Pretty Cure: Season's Touch!
by Momoji Maple
Summary: Mei Tarano lives a simple life until she comes across an injured fairy, Mocchi who informs her that Earth is threatened. Through a series of events, Mei awakens as Cure Daisy and along with Cure Flare, Maple and Snow they attempt to save their planet.
1. Prologue – Find the Legendary Warriors!

Prologue – Earth's Balance is Threatened! Find the Legendary Warriors!

* * *

In a world that existed on a separate plane from Earth, nature was overflowing. Green trees, lush rainforests and clear lakes filled the land. The Land of Gaia was a place teeming with plant life. The world had a perfect, almost beautiful natural balance. The four seasons that passed through the land all brought something unique along with them: flowers bloomed in the spring, the sun shone spectacularly in the summer, amber leaves fell from the trees in the autumn and gentle snowfall meant winter.

In the midst of all the nature stood only one unnatural structure yet it blended in as if it were part of the world. The Gaia Palace stood tall, an almost elegant structure made of marble. Green vines with blossoming pink flowers grew on the tall pillars of the structure, a testament to how unified the palace was with the land. In the palace, was Lady Earthlight who oversaw the balance of not only the Land of Gaia but also that of Earth. Lady Earthlight was known by mankind as Mother Nature, Gaia and several other names throughout history.

Earthlight stood in her palace which was completely dark, the only light came from a small replica of Earth which she used to monitor the conditions of the planet and keep things in check. The light shone on the green-haired woman's face, showcasing the worry on it. For a long time now, things were strange on Earth but she couldn't tell what it was so for that reason, she had sent out her four fairies to investigate. As Earthlight lived a mostly solitary, dutiful life for eons, she created four beings: Mocchi, Neene, Purin and Uji, four fairies that embodied the seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter respectively. They kept her company and informed her of any threats to Earth's ecosystem.

Lady Earthlight was waiting on her fairies to return and was standing still, the light emitted by the replica of the Earth shone on her long white gown, giving her an almost eerie glow. She thought about the possible reasons why Earth's balance was off-skew. What first came to her mind was Typhoon; he seemed like the most likely explanation. Typhoon was a being in direct opposition to Lady Earthlight. With her standing for order and balance, Typhoon stood for chaos and destruction. Typhoon was in existence for as long as Lady Earthlight was however, both beings had near equal power, disallowing them to directly oppose one another. Despite that long-term fact Lady Earthlight noticed that the balance of power between the two was slightly shifting in Typhoon's favor. Could it be that he finally had more power than her?

* * *

"Lady Earthlight, chi!" a tiny voice echoed in Earthlight's palace.

Lady Earthlight shook slightly; she was startled by the voice. Normally, no one was allowed in her palace but this time, it was of upmost importance that she be informed of what was about to transpire. Earthlight turned away from the small replica of Earth towards the entrance to her palace,

"Hm?"

Hurriedly running towards her was Mocchi, the fairy of small blue bird looked terrified, the tiny pink ribbon behind her head was slightly disheveled. Normally reserved and happy, Lady Earthlight was unaccustomed to seeing the fairy look this way.

"Lady Earthlight, chi!" Mocchi called out again, "I'm sorry to disturb you but I have to tell you something very important, chi!"

"It's alright, Mocchi." Lady Earthlight said in a gentle voice, hoping to comfort the small blue bird.

Lady Earthlight knelt down and put out the palms of her hand which Mocchi jumped into,

"Typhoon… Typhoon is…" Mocchi started to speak but was hesitating, what could be going on that had her so frightened?

"Mocchi, it's alright, speak up." Lady Earthlight tried her best to comfort the shaking, terrified fairy. Some more voices came from the entrance of her palace,

"Lady Earthlight!" she looked up and spotted Mocchi's siblings, Neene, Purin and Uji racing towards her.

Neene and Uji, the most outspoken of the four weren't afraid to directly inform her of the danger that was to come,

"Typhoon is coming here, ne!" informed Neene,

"And he has an unbelievable amount of power, ji!" finished Uji. Purin was quietly offering words of comfort to the now sobbing Mocchi.

"Typhoon?" questioned Lady Earthlight; she didn't sound as panicked as the fairies.

"Lady Earthlight!" the four fairies called out to her, some sort of counteraction was urgent.

Lady Earthlight stood up and Mocchi flew out of her hands as she did so. She turned around, facing the small orb of Earth. Earthlight closed her eyes, silently trying to calm herself down.

"Lady Ea-"started Mocchi,

"Shh! Be quiet, Mocchi!" whispered Purin.

Lady Earthlight was undeniably scared; she had to protect herself, her fairies and Earth. She concentrated and was able to see what was going on outside her palace. The wind had picked up and dark clouds were looming ever closer to where they were situated. She had to act fast.

"Pretty Cure..." Earthlight suddenly said.

"Pretty Cure?" asked Purin "Lady Earthlight, rin. What is that?" she questioned further.

Mocchi spoke up, deciding to inform her siblings, "Pretty Cure are legendary warriors, chi! Lady Earthlight told a story about them once, chi!"

"That's right, ji!" said Uji helping to remind Purin of the story.

"That's just a story, ne!" said Neene.

"Actually, Neene, it isn't." Earthlight corrected Neene and then explained,

"You were each created with some of my power and that power is enough to turn a human into Pretty Cure. Now, with that being said, I have to ask you all of a favor, it is our only hope at this point."

Mocchi nervously asked, "Go find Pretty Cure?"

"Obviously, rin!" Purin said in reply to her.

"Yes, Mocchi." Earthlight answered, "I'm going to hide the Gaia Scepter, without it, Typhoon can't harm Earth too much, but, we still need Pretty Cure to save us as well as Earth." Earthlight said this all in a calm voice, trying to alleviate the distress around her.

Raising her right hand, Lady Earthlight's Gaia Scepter appeared out of thin air and she grabbed it. The Gaia Scepter was made of wood and wrapped in what appeared to be crystalized vines which emitted a faint green light, giving it a mystical look; this scepter held most of Lady Earthlight's power.

The replica of the Earth disappeared and reappeared at the top of the Gaia Scepter, forming an orb and completing the scepter. Earthlight and the Gaia Scepter started to glow with energy, showing the amount of power that she held. She then closed her eyes and the scepter broke into pieces, twelve pieces that then became small, crystalized leaves of various colors.

* * *

"Lady Earthlight!" the four fairies were confused, did she just destroy her scepter?

"Don't panic, I know what I'm doing" Lady Earthlight then waved her hand and created a portal and sent the crystals into it.

"This portal is a portal to the human world, I've hidden my power there so Typhoon will not be able to find it. Find Pretty Cure an-ah!" Lady Earthlight suddenly yelled out.

"Earthlight…" came an ominous voice, a rush of wind passed through the dome where Lady Earthlight and her fairies were; Typhoon had arrived. Lady Earthlight turned and shouted to her fairies,

"Go, you four, I'm counting on you!"

"Not so fast." a loud voice suddenly came from the entrance of the Gaia Palace but this voice wasn't Typhoon's. Lady Earthlight looked to where the source of the voice came from, humans? What were they doing in her palace?

"Goodbye, Lady Earthlight!" Mocchi and her siblings took instinct and quickly entered the portal.

"Go after them; stop them from finding Pretty Cure!" Typhoon bellowed.

A strong gust of wind blew through the palace and hit Earthlight, knocking her away from the portal and giving a chance for the three strange humans to follow after Earthlight's fairies.

"No!" Earthlight yelled out, "Typhoon, if you plan on harming Earth, you'll find that you'll have no way to. I've done what was necessary to protect that planet."

"You mean you've simply hidden the Gaia Scepter?" Typhoon told her.

Typhoon knew that she was bluffing and Lady Earthlight was shocked, Typhoon spoke again,

"My followers will be able to find it." He laughed. A strong gust of wind then blew again and a strange human body that appeared to be made of red gas appeared. Typhoon was able to give himself a physical form, with it, he slowly approached Lady Earthlight.

"Stay away!" Lady Earthlight yelled and she put her hand out however, nothing happened. She had given up most of her power; she had no way to protect herself against Typhoon. With nothing else to do and Typhoon still coming towards her she created a portal behind her.

"You coward!" Typhoon shouted and reached out to grab her but he was too late, she had already backed into the portal and left,

"So, this is how things are going to play out, Earthlight?" Typhoon laughed, seeing the situation as some sort of game.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mocchi, Neene, Purin and Uji were approaching Earth through Lady Earthlight's portal. They were falling however, they were surrounded and presumably protected by a strange light around them.

"Lady Earthlight, chi!" Mocchi quietly cried out.

"Don't worry, rin!" Purin said, "I'm sure she can protect herself, she's our Lady Earthlight, after all, rin!" Purin said, trying to comfort her siblings.

Neene knew what Purin was trying to do and tried to help,

"That's right! We just have to do our part and find Pretty Cure, ne! Earthlight can protect herself!"

Uji however, stayed silent.

"Aha! You three!" came a loud voice.

The voice belonged to a human and a weird one at that. A man with blond hair but with a fiery red mohawk called after them. He was dressed in what looked like a superhero costume, it was predominantly white with indigo details, he even had a cape.

Another voice then spoke, this one was a female with mint-green hair and she had a clear, orange eyeshield over her right eye. She wore a mostly purple bodysuit that was rather form-fitting,

"Stop getting so excited, Thunder! You'll ruin things again!"

In contrast to the previous two voices, a tired, bored one then came,

"Can we just take care of this quickly?" The third human was a young boy with spiky blue hair wearing a black and blue outfit it too, looked like a superhero outfit.

"Ara~ so you're that kind of boy?" the female said, teasingly.

"Quit playing, Hail! Let's just do this like we practiced!" said the hyperactive one who was apparently named Thunder,

"Thunder!" the man yelled out and his body started crackling with electricity.

"Everyone, we have to split up, ji!" said Uji, "If we split up we won't be hit and our mission won't be jeopardized, ji!" he explained.

"Hail!" shouted the female human and hail started appearing around her, the three humans were going to attack the fairies.

"That will make the most sense, let's split up, ne!" said Neene.

"Rain!" yelled the blue-haired boy.

"Good luck, everyone, chi~!" said Mocchi. The light around the fairies was fading and Earth was becoming visible, the fairies moved away from each other.

"This storm is one tha-!" Thunder and Hail yelled out, acting out a much rehearsed attack.

"Listen! They're getting away, can't we hurry this up?" the blue-haired boy said in a bitter voice. Thunder and Hail looked towards him, with Hail speaking up,

"Acid's right, Thunder. Let's just attack!"

The three quit stalling and finally launched their attack. Thunder unleashed an enormous bolt of lightning that missed completely while the small balls of ice that surrounded Hail flew forward and hit only one fairy, Mocchi, the toxic rain that Acid called forth burned the three other fairies.

"Chi~!" cried out Mocchi.

"Mocchi!" cried the three other fairies. Thunder, feeling useless and seeing Mocchi as weakened edged closer towards her. For Mocchi however, the trip through the portal was complete and she finally ended up on Earth, eluding Thunder.

Out of the portal, Mocchi was still falling however, this time, she was falling towards Earth and was struggling to fly due to her damaged wings.

"Chi~!" cried out Mocchi, she managed to flap her wings enough that the speed of her descent was shortened and she managed to land safely on a green lawn.

"Neene, Purin, Uji, chi~!" she said in a weakened voice, she was hoping that they were alright.

"Oh no!" came a young girl's voice.

Mocchi could barely tell where the voice came from. Mocchi could feel herself being picked up. Maybe it was that woman, Hail?

"You poor thing!" said the young girl. Mocchi then looked up into the eyes of a young girl with pig-tailed brown hair that she wore in green ribbons.

* * *

_I just want to give a huge thanks to _**stew92**_ who translated some of the names and phrases of Season's Touch and of course, the original artist of Season's Touch, _**Galibo**_ for drawing the characters and inspiring this story in the first place. Look on my profile for more information._


	2. Spring is Here, Cure Daisy is Born!

Chapter One – Spring is Here, Cure Daisy is Born!

* * *

"Satsuki?" Mei Tarano had just reached home from school and was walking around her house, calling for her sister. The two lived alone while their parents worked abroad.

"Satsuki?" Mei called again as she walked into the living room, it was mid-afternoon and the sun was filtering through the blinds in the two girls' living room. Mei put her hands up to her face to shield her eyes from the penetrating sunlight.

"Ah! Satsuki, there you are."

Mei had finally spotted Satsuki. Mei took in the sight before her, the living room was a mess; papers were scattered all over the floor and Satsuki was in the middle of it all with her head down on the coffee table, sleeping. The sunlight shone on the brown-haired girl's face as she snoozed away. This was a familiar site to Mei, although Mei loved her sister, she wasn't afraid to admit that she was far from a responsible adult. Getting a little frustrated Mei shook Satsuki,

"Satsuki, wake up." Mei said, "I'm hungry."

"Ungh… hm? Mei? You're home already? What time is it?" Satsuki questioned her sister while raising up from the table, obviously confused. She felt for her red glasses on the coffee table and squinted in the direction of the clock.

"It's almost 4PM." said Mei.

"4PM, huh? If you're hungry there's some money around here somewhere that you can use to buy some food. I'm tired." Satsuki replied as she took off her glasses and laid her head back down to sleep.

"Satsuki…" Mei sighed and shook her head. Mei walked into her sister's room, the room was just as messy as the living room and Mei had to perform some elaborate maneuvers just to make her way to her sister's bed. Finally reaching, Mei took the blanket off of Satsuki's bed and returned to the living room to drape it over her sister's shoulder. Walking away from some incoherent words of gratitude, Mei looked around for the money that was supposedly in the house.

Walking into the kitchen, Mei looked around and spotted some money sitting on the tiled kitchen counter.

"Ah! There it is!" Mei excitedly ran up to the money.

"This is so little! What does she expect me to buy with this?" Mei eyed the money.

As she really had no other options for food, Mei skipped to her room and changed out of her school uniform to go out into the town. The walls of Mei's room were a pastel pink and furnished with a simple white, wooden wardrobe, a desk with a desk lamp and a bed with white and green blankets. The sun shone on Mei's potted plants through the window which she used to decorate her room. Mei walked up to her wardrobe and decided on wearing a pink dress with a white undershirt, she touched up the green ribbons in her pigtails and was then out the door.

* * *

As Mei opened the door, she took a deep breath of the crisp spring air. It was mid-April, and her favorite time of the year as she loved spring. She eyed some potted plants on the front porch of her house and took a mental note to water them when she returned home.

Arriving in the business district of her neighborhood, Mei looked around at the busy section of town. Since school was over, there were many school children walking around, buying food and window shopping, moving her eyes away from the clothes stores, she looked at the section of the business district where the food stores were gathered.

She first noticed a fish vendor, "That's too expensive and I don't know how to cook fish." Mei mumbled to herself before moving on to look at a nearby takoyaki shop, "I love takoyaki but I don't have enough money to even buy something like that." Mei commented on each option as she looked around the town.

"Ah! I can always go to Rainbow Candy." she remembered the candy shop and headed towards it with excitement. Rainbow Candy was a familiar shop to the Tarano family; it was run by Mr. Yamada, an old family friend. Mr. Yamada was an old man whose most prominent features were his round glasses and big, gray moustache. The shop was a white building with colorful tiles lining the walls and there was a gumball machine outside that was frequently used by the children that passed the shop.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Yamada." Mei greeted the old owner of the shop as she walked in. The store smelled entirely of sweets and the interior had an overall goofy charm to it, just like Mr. Yamada's moustache. Mei briefly eyed the many clear containers filled with candy before walking up to the wooden counter of the shop.

"Good afternoon, Mei. How are you and your sister?" Mr. Yamada was smiling at the young girl.

"Fine, thanks! Satsuki's tired as usual though and couldn't make me any lunch." Mei wasn't shy about her embarrassing sister's habits.

"Again? Hm, I actually have a boxed lunch here if you're interested." Yamada told her, he really did genuinely care about Mei and her sister.

"Mr. Yamada… I couldn't. Your wife prepared that for you, didn't she?" Mei had worry in her voice. She hated taking things from people, offered or not.

"It's alright, Mei. Besides, she'd scold me if I didn't offer you it after hearing about you being hungry." Yamada took up the boxed lunch and edged it towards her.

"I…" Mei blushed, "Thank you, Mr. Yamada." She took the boxed lunch, "It's still warm and it smells delicious too. Thank you so much, Mr. Yamada. Make sure to give Mrs. Yamada my thanks too." Mei cheerfully gave her gratitude to the old man who simply smiled and gave her a nod.

Mei was about to ask Mr. Yamada how business was until the silence was broken by a loud, excited voice, "Hey! Gramps!"

Mei and Mr. Yamada looked towards the entrance of the candy shop. There was a young girl there, she had red hair in a high ponytail and wore an orange vest with denim short pants; she looked just about Mei's age,

"Give me some candy!"

Mei wondered why the girl was being so rude. Mr. Yamada looked towards the girl,

"Quiet down now, Hanabi, you're scaring my customer. Just tell me what you'd like to have."

Mei looked at Mr. Yamada, "Sc-scaring?" Mei was blushing; she was embarrassed that Mr. Yamada would say something like that.

Hanabi gave an energetic nod and walked up to the glass cases in front of the wooden counter where the most popular candies were housed. She began pointing at the various sweets and listed what she wanted.

"I want a few of those gummies, along with some lychee candy an-" the girl went on and on.

Watching Mr. Yamada scoop out the candy into plastic bags for the red-haired girl, Mei wondered if this was all for Hanabi or if she was buying for more people. When the girl finally finished and Mr. Yamada had finished tallying her up, he called out the price for her.

"What?" the red-haired girl asked in shock upon hearing the price,

"Hang on a sec'! I think I have some more money in my back pocket." The girl reached around in her back pocket and pulled out some more money. Mr. Yamada took it and counted,

"Even with this, Hanabi, you're still a few yen short."

"Still short? I… um…" Hanabi looked towards the door and wondered if she could grab the candy and run.

Mei felt for the money that Satsuki had given her for food, she already had the boxed lunch that Mr. Yamada gave to her and could simply pay for Hanabi,

"Miss Hanabi?" Mei said in a quiet voice,

"If you're okay with it, I can give you some money to make up the cost." Mei avoided eye contact with the girl as she said this.

Hanabi stared at the brown-haired girl for a while,

"Sure!" Hanabi then grabbed the money out of Mei's hand. Mei gasped, shocked at the girl's brashness.

Mr. Yamada took the money and handed the bag of candy to Hanabi,

"Thanks!" Hanabi then looked towards Mei, did a half-bow and then bolted out the door, naming the candy she bought in a sing-song voice.

Mr. Yamada chuckled and when Mei looked towards him, he started laughing,

"That's how she usually acts, Mei, don't feel insulted, that's just how she is." He told the obviously startled girl.

Mei's eyes opened wide, "Oh no, don't get the wrong idea, Mr. Yamada, I don't dislike her or anything." Mei was flustered.

"It's alright, Mei." Yamada said, "You should hurry home now, eat your lunch and prepare for school tomorrow."

"Mhm." Mei nodded and thanked Mr. Yamada for the lunch again before skipping off towards her house.

* * *

Mei let out an exhausted sigh as she opened the door. She was so happy to be home again and this time, she actually had something to eat. Walking through the house, Mei heard clattering coming from the kitchen.

"Satsuki? Is that you?" she asked.

A distressed voice answered back, "Yes, it's me."

"Satsuki?" Mei walked into the kitchen and realized that her sister was trying to make lunch for her; the kitchen was a complete mess. Pots and pans filled the sink for no apparent reason, a pack of flour fell onto the floor and at least half of it was thrown onto the floor and Satsuki was covered in sweat that glistened in the sunlight. Satsuki turned towards Mei, heaving.

"Satsuki, Mr. Yamada gave me lunch, you don't have to try to make anything for me." Mei told her.

"Try to make anything? What's that supposed to mean?" Satsuki asked, perceiving an insult from Mei,

"That's good, though! I don't suppose he gave you lunch for me, too?" Satsuki asked with a sly smile and wiped her forehead of the sweat that had gathered there.

"Nope." Mei smiled.

Satsuki opened the fridge and grabbed an apple juice box, it was her favorite,

"Oh well, I'm just happy that you have something to eat. I'm sorry I didn't prepare anything for you again." Satsuki would often worry that Mei resented her for not being the best older sister to Mei.

"It's okay!" Mei said, she was now sitting at the dining table and eating her lunch,

"How is your schoolwork going?" Mei questioned her sister. Satsuki was a college student and had a lot of responsibilities. Between having a part-time job, caring for Mei and maintaining good grades, she would often be stressed and tired.

"It's been going great. I've barely slept for the week but I've managed to finish some overdue work that I had. What about you?" Satsuki asked.

"Good. Natsuki and I ate on the rooftop today." Mei said.

"Ate? Then why were you so hungry?" Satsuki questioned.

"It was leftovers from last night, it wasn't much." Mei replied.

"Oh… I'm sorry, Mei." Satsuki lowered her head.

"It's okay, you're busy with school and everything, right?" Mei smiled at her sister.

Satsuki smiled back, "I'm going to go take another nap, Mei." Satsuki stood up from the table and headed back to the living room, which was basically her bedroom, to sleep.

Mei was now in the process of packing up her lunch, "Have a good rest!"

Mei was heading to her room to do her homework till she remembered that she had to water the potted plants outside. Mei went to the kitchen, grabbed the watering can she usually used to water the plants and went outside.

* * *

"This one is starting to wilt already…" Mei sighed.

She was outside watering the plants and as she moved from plant to plant she noticed each one was a little wilted.

"Maybe it's because it's been so cloudy, lately?" Mei wondered and looked towards the sky.

Although it had been sunny a while ago, it was now cloudy. Mei's neighborhood of Harukaze was an often sunny, breezy place where flowers had no trouble going however, this was changing. Still looking at the sky, Mei suddenly spotted something flying,

"Hm, what is that? Is that a… blue bird?"

"Chi~!" the blue bird was falling and struggling to fly.

"Oh no!" Mei ran closer towards the bird, hoping to catch it. Thankfully, the bird managed to fly a little and safely landed on the floor.

"Chi~!" the blue bird was crying.

"You poor thing…"

Mei took the bird into her hands and ran into her room with it. She wasn't sure how she was going to nurse it back to health but at least inside her house it would be safe from any predators.

"Chi~!" the blue bird cried again.

"What a strange bird… I wonder what type it is? And this ribbon behind its head... how'd it get there?" Mei was looking at it in her hands, "It's so cute though…"

"Chi~! I have to find Pretty Cure, chi~!" cried the blue bird.

"Wha-what!" Mei looked down at the bird in her hands again. "You- what are you?"

"My name is Mocchi and I have to find Pretty Cure! Lady Earthlight is in danger chi~!" explained the fairy.

"Lady Earthlight? Pretty Cure?" Mei was confused and before she had a chance to question the bird, she was startled by a scream from the living room, it was her sister.

Mei opened her bedroom door and made her way to the living room. She spotted a tall man with blond hair.

"Burglar!" yelled Satsuki, "Mei! Call the police!"

Satsuki had a frying pan in one hand and hit Thunder in the face with it,

"Wah!" Thunder yelled out in shock and stepped back. "Who do you think you are equating me with a lowly burglar, woman? I am Thunder, one of Typhoon's most loyal minions!" Thunder was more outraged over being called a burglar than being hit.

Satsuki hit Thunder again, this time it had him disorientated a little bit.

Mei was panicking but she quickly ran to the phone, Mocchi's strength was recovering and she flew towards Mei.

"Humans won't be able to protect you, chi!" Mocchi explained.

"What are you talking about?" Mei asked.

"Thunder is a being with Typhoon's power! He won't be harmed by your human weapons, chi!" Mocchi was just as panicked as Mei, "Please, become Pretty Cure, chi! Save Lady Earthlight and that lady, chi!"

Mei was confused and was getting a headache, "If I become this… _Pretty Cure_, I can save my sister?"

"Yes, please believe me, chi! Save your planet and become Pretty Cure!" Mocchi was egging Mei on.

* * *

At this point, Thunder had overwhelmed Satsuki by use of his powers. She was paralyzed but still conscious, the expression that she had on her face when Mei's eyes caught her sisters was one of pure terror. To make matters worse, Thunder was also now making his way towards Mei and Mocchi.

"Come here, fairy. Girl! Hand over that annoying thing!" Thunder glared at Mei and Mocchi and his body started crackling with electricity once more, Mocchi knew what was coming.

"Chi~! Make up your mind quickly, chi~!"

"I'll become Pretty Cure!" Mei abruptly said. She had to protect herself and her sister.

"Thank you, chi~!" Mocchi said.

A bright light then flashed and a powerful energy waved passed through the room, the source was from Mei.

A voice then echoed through the room, "Young girl, you have chosen to become Pretty Cure and protect this planet. I put my faith into you and and bestow upon you the power of the season of Spring."

"Lady Earthlight, chi!" said Mocchi, recognizing the voice.

A daisy then fell from above, falling onto Mei's right ring finger and formed a silver ring encrusted with a pink daisy; Mei's body glowed with a faint pink light as the ring formed.

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" came Lady Earthlight's voice again.

"Wh-what?" asked Mei.

"Say it quickly, chi~!" Mocchi was bouncing around with excitement.

Mei nodded and uttered the phrase, "Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!

Accompanied by flashes of pink light and vines, Mei gained a new appearance. Mei was feeling a energy overflowing her body and could smell the scent of flowers; it was as if she was surrounded by the essence of spring itself. After a while, the light and vines were gone and Mei looked at herself. Her brown pigtails were now longer and were pink; her green ribbons were gone and were replaced with floral hair decorations. She wore a green corset with blue puffy sleeves and a puffy pink skirt. Green fingerless gloves were on her hand and floral details were all over her clothing. She looked down and noticed that she was wearing a daisy for a brooch, "A daisy?"

Mei felt her body move almost on its own. She struck a pose with her left hand on her hip and her right hand in the air, "Blooming flowers mark the season of spring! Cure Daisy!"

* * *

"So you're Pretty Cure?" called Thunder.

"You're Pretty Cure now, chi~! You're supposed to be super strong now, chi~!" exclaimed an excited Mocchi.

Daisy looked at Mocchi, "Super strong?" Daisy then noticed her sister was still paralyzed, "I don't really understand what's going on here but… turn my sister back to the way she was!" Daisy pointed at Thunder, "Or else I'll…" she was lost for words, "What can I do, Mocchi?" she looked towards Mocchi who was just as clueless as her.

Thunder laughed and came towards Daisy, attempting to hit her. Daisy screamed and moved out of the way.

"This house is already so messy." Daisy was talking to herself, "Maybe I should get him in the backyard."

"Hey! Come over here, you!" Daisy ran out to the backyard of her house.

The backyard had a freshly cut lawn and the smell of the cut grass was still in the air. The sky was still cloudy, as if signaling the odd events that were transpiring today.

"Come here and fight!" Thunder yelled after Daisy and shot a bolt of lightning towards her. Daisy screamed, this man was actually trying to hurt her.

"Chi~! Fight for your sister, chi~!" Daisy looked towards her house and saw Mocchi flying there, cheering her on.

Daisy thought back to her sister, she couldn't be scared now; she had to protect her sister. Daisy thought back to how hard her sister tries to be a good older sister to her, how even though she didn't know how to cook, she still tried to prepare something for her.

"Satsuki…" Daisy teared up thinking about how hard her sister works for her.

"Thunder!" Thunder yelled out, charging up another attack, "Are you crying over there, girly? I'll put an end to this now." Thunder then launched another thunderbolt at Daisy.

"Protect me, Spring's Leaves!" Daisy put her hands in front of her, her body was moving on its own again. She didn't know what was happening but when she said those words leaves started to appear before her and became a shield. She waved her hand and managed to control the shield in such a way that she hit away the lightning bolt sent by Thunder. "Did that even make sense?" Daisy thought to herself. Thunder hit away the lightning bolt before it struck him not that it would do him much damage given the source of his powers anyway.

"Go, Daisy, chi~!" Daisy heard Mocchi cheering her own again.

Daisy chuckled, was she winning? She could feel her body trying to act on its own again and she let it,

Daisy took her hands and put them both in the air, "Pretty Cure!" a pink ball of light appeared in her hands and she put them in front of her, "Springtime!" the pink light then began to be circled by daisies, "Surprise!" and the light burst forward from her hand, Thunder let out another lightning bolt and the two were now trying to overpower the other in a collision of their projectiles.

"Mei, don't give up!" Mei heard Satsuki's voice coming from the house. Mei thought back to Satsuki again and could feel energy overflowing in her body again, it was just like when she was transforming.

"Yaaahh!" Daisy gave it her all and soon she could feel her attack edging closer to Thunder.

"Damn this!" Thunder shot another bolt of lightning from his hand, targeting the ongoing energy collision and it resulted in an explosion that pushed Daisy back.

Coughing from the smoke that resulted from the explosion, Daisy looked around. When the smoke had cleared up it became apparent that Thunder was gone.

* * *

"You did it, chi~! Cure Daisy! I'm so proud of you, thank you so much for helping me, chi!" Mocchi said as she flew towards Daisy.

Satsuki was apparently free from Thunder's paralysis and was running towards Daisy. When she finally reached, she hugged her, "Mei! I was so scared for you but… what is all this?" Satsuki pulled away from Cure Daisy and looked at her from head to toe, "This get up is ridiculous and what is with this talking bird? And who was that man, did he steal anything?" Satsuki was stricken with confusion.

Mei looked towards Mocchi, "I don't know the answer to any of those questions."

"Don't worry, chi! I'll explain everything to you!" Mocchi looked at both of the girls.

A pink light surrounded Cure Daisy and she was back to looking like Mei. Mei looked at her finger, the ring was still there.

"Can we go back inside?" Satsuki gestured towards the house and started to make her way towards it, Mei and Mocchi followed. Mocchi then began to explain the situation.

"My name is Mocchi and I'm a fairy created by Lady Earthlight, chi!" Mocchi began, "Wait…" Satsuki interjected, "Do you say this chi thing at the end of everything you say?"

"I'm sorry, chi! It's just a habit, chi!" Mocchi looked down, she felt as if Satsuki thought she was annoying.

"Let her explain, Satsuki!" Mei scolded her sister.

"Lady Earthlight is what you humans call Mother Nature and she keeps your planet in balance! Earth needs balance for life to flourish but here's a baddie name Typhoon who wants to hurt Earthlight and your planet, chi!" Mocchi's tone in voice started to lower as she went on.

"Typhoon got really strong and attacked Lady Earthlight, chi! So Lady Earthlight sent me and my brothers and sisters to find Pretty Cure, chi! We have to find the Pretty Cure of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and protect Earthlight and Earth, chi!" Mocchi then paused, waiting on the girls to ask any questions that they may have.

As everyone was back in the house, the girls sat down on the couch in the living room while Mocchi flew onto the table in front of it.

"So you expect my sister to fight this… Typhoon?" Satsuki said, looking towards Mei with worried eyes.

"I know that it's a difficult task, chi! Mei is already a Pretty Cure though, chi!" Mocchi explained to Satsuki, "Then make me a Cure too!" ordered Satsuki.

"Satsuki…" Mei said, looking towards at her older sister.

"I don't want you in harm's way, Mei. I already fail you as an older sister, I can't let you go out there and fight people lik-", Mei reached out and hugged her sister.

"It's okay, Satsuki. You haven't failed me as a sister!" Mei hugged Satsuki tighter.

"I do so little though and I'm always busy with something!" Satsuki was sobbing into Mei's shoulder.

"I appreciate every little thing that you do for me!" Mei comforted her, "I know that you're busy a lot and mom and dad aren't here to help you, don't feel like you're inadequate!"

"Mei…" Satsuki wasn't sure what to say.

Mocchi looked on at the girls "I can't make you a Pretty Cure either, chi! I can only turn one person into a Pretty Cure, chi!" Mocchi too, was sad that she had to involve Mei in this fight but she couldn't do anything about it at this point.

"I can manage, Satsuki!" Mei said as she pulled away from her sister.

Satsuki giggled, "Look at how you have me crying…" she sobbed and wiped her eyes, "I guess I'll just have to do my best to support you if I can't be a Cure too. From now on, I promise to make lunch for you every day, okay? My little superhero… Cure Daisy, right?" Satsuki smiled at Mei.

Mei smiled and nodded, "I like that you're supporting me but you don't have to try to make lunch for me every day, Satsuki." Mei was once again making a poke at Satsuki's lack of cooking skills.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Satsuki was riled up by Mei's teasing as usual.

"I really hope that this girl can save Earthlight and this planet, chi! I hope Neene, Purin and Uji are alright too, chi!" Mocchi thought that to herself and then spoke aloud, "Mei, Satsuki! Let's do our best together and save your planet, chi!"

The two girls then looked towards the blue bird and nodded.

* * *

_Mei Tarano has awakened as Cure Daisy, The Pretty Cure of Spring through Mocchi but how are Neene, Purin and Uji doing?_

_In the next chapter, Acid comes across Neene, the summer fairy who has become "acquainted" with a certain, fiery girl._


	3. Summer is Here, Cure Flare is Born!

Chapter Two - Summer is Here, Cure Flare is Born!

* * *

"Stupid Masaya." Hanabi grunted as she threw a rock into Lake Hamasaki, watching it skip across the water. Hanabi's neighborhood, Hamasaki was well-known for its lakes and beaches, she was now sitting on the docks of the largest, Hamasaki Lake. The fiery girl would often come here to get her mind off things. Hanabi looked up at the sky; it was starting to get a little cloudy even though it was completely sunny a while ago.

A gentle breeze blew and the young girl's hair moved along with it. It was a relaxing afternoon; the lake was clear and some fish could be seen swimming through the water. The lake reflected the little sunlight there was and was a glorious sight to behold.

Hanabi sighed and grabbed at the plastic bag filled with the candies she'd just bought, hurriedly taking out a lollipop, she unwrapped it and put it in her mouth. Eating sweets at Hamasaki Lake was just how she calmed herself down. She thought back to what had her in such a bad mood in the first place, the coming spring festival. Her mother would often pressure her (jokingly or not, Hanabi couldn't tell) into finding a "boy to like". When it started, Hanabi would just laugh it off until she started noticing her friend Masaya in a different way. The thing is though, he had someone else he was interested in and before she had a chance to ask Masaya to the festival, he'd asked someone else.

"Ugh, stupid, stupid, stupid!" Hanabi jumped up from her sitting position and was yelling across the lake.

"Stupid?"

Hanabi turned around and noticed a young boy with dark blue, spiky hair, "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean you!"

"Oh." the boy looked at Hanabi in the eye with a dark expression on his face.

"Uh, are you okay?" Hanabi didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"Listen, did you happen to see an odd-looking fish around here?" the boy blankly asked her, he was staring at her in a way that made Hanabi feel uncomfortable.

Hanabi looked at everything except the boy's face; she was feeling very awkward,

"No." she replied with a slightly quivering voice.

"Okay." the boy then walked off.

When he was out of earshot, Hanabi finally decided to let loose her opinion of him,

"What a weirdo!" Hanabi then sat back down and laid her back down on the wooden docks, her head facing the sky and closed her eyes.

* * *

"Splash, splash!" the sound of water splashing came from the lake. Hanabi was feeling too lazy to look up and decided to just dismiss it. She reached into her bag of candy once more to fetch another candy.

"Splash, splash!" Hanabi still paid no attention to it and instead put the candy she took out into her mouth.

"Splash, splash!" it came again, louder, but this was still not enough to grab her attention, barely opening her eyes, she reached her hand to take out another candy but when the splashing came again, something came out of the water.

"I'm hungry, ne~!" came a high-pitched voice and along with it, Hanabi was drenched with water and her bag of candy was gone. Hanabi bolted up and screamed, feeling the cold water soaking her body. She looked around, wondering what wetted her and when she noticed a fish not too far away from her, gobbling on her candy, she screamed again. She reached forward and snatched the bag from it.

"What in the world are you doing!" she glared at the odd creature, shivering. The creature resembled a fish, it was a white ball with big blue eyes and had huge orange-red fins. There were two silver rings around its fins that laid there, almost floating and it had what appeared to be a long trail of red hair.

The fishing stared at Hanabi,

"I'm eating, ne!"

Hanabi screamed again, not expecting the fish to talk and bolted off running.

"Neene?" the fish was confused and decided to follow the girl.

Hanabi was running as fast as she could so when she noticed that the odd fish was right beside her, _flying_, she froze in shock and faced it.

"What do you want from me, my candy!" Hanabi was so scared that she was almost in tears,

"Leave me alone! I'll give you whatever you want if you promise not to eat me!"

The odd-looking fish stared at the girl, "I just want something to eat and to find Pretty Cure, ne!" Neene replied, not realizing the terror he was causing the young girl.

"Fine, here!" Hanabi gave Neene the candy and she started to eat it.

"Thank you, ne~!" Neene started to eat the candy and with the fairy giving the girl his thanks, Hanabi softened up to it.

"'Thanks'…? um… What are you?" Hanabi started off nervously but then started to bombard the fairy with questions, Neene answered each one with ease,

"I'm a fairy created by Lady Earthlight, ne! I embody the season of summer, ne! My name is Neene!"

"What's Lady Earthlight? Is that some sort of weird factory or something?" Hanabi then gasped,

"Are you some sort of genetically modified fish that ran away from captivity!" Hanabi wasn't a conspiracy theorist but she sure had a wild imagination.

The odd creature was getting exasperated,

"I told you that I'm a fairy, ne! Lady Earthlight is what you humans call Mother Nature and she sent me to find Pretty Cure to save Earth and herself, ne!"

"Save Earth? From what? Is it aliens?" Hanabi asked the increasingly irritated fairy.

"I can assure you that I am not an alien." Came a quiet, bitter voice. Hanabi turned around to find that it was the boy from earlier,

"Oh hey, weird kid! Wait… I mean, sorry! It's you, again!" she quickly corrected herself.

The boy emitted an unsettling aura, coupled with the area getting darkened because of the increasing cloudiness, Hanabi couldn't help but feel a little scared. The breeze was picking up as well and the sound of nearby leaves scraped against the ground. The boy broke the odd tension with his cold voice,

"I heard you asking about Earthlight, you found the fish, didn't you?" he still had his cold stare from before.

Hanabi looked in front of her to find that Neene was missing,

"Don't tell him I'm here, ne!" came a whisper that Hanabi didn't her.

"Yeah! It was just here but it looks like it's gone now." Hanabi looked back at the boy.

"Stop lying! Give it to me!" the boy started walking towards Hanabi.

"I don't have it! What's wrong with you? It was he-" Hanabi was then interrupted,

"I'm not an it, ne!" Neene came out of the water, splashing water on both Hanabi and the strange boy.

Hanabi screamed, "I'm completely soaked now, stop doing that!"

"Run, Hanabi!" Neene jumped into Hanabi's arms and they dashed away from the young boy.

* * *

Hanabi didn't know what was going on but she was screaming and began to run anyway, "Why are we running!"

"That boy is a minion of Typhoon, the bad man I told you about earlier, ne!" Neene had to explain what was going on to Hanabi, _again_.

"So that story you were telling me really wasn't just a cover for you being a genetically modified fish?" Hanabi thought that the fairy was lying the whole time.

"Of course not, ne!" said the fairy.

Hanabi and Neene had to come to a halt when a green wall of water suddenly rose up in front of them, Hanabi turned around to find the boy in front of her.

"I hate playing games. Give me that fairy." The boy's hands were glowing green and he appeared to be controlling the water that barricaded them.

"No! If what Neene is saying is true then I can't let you have him!" Hanabi was matching the boy's glare.

"What's your name, by the way, ne!" came Neene.

"It's Hanabi, nice to meet you, Neene!" Hanabi and the fairy looked like they were about to engage in small talk when the boy suddenly wet them with the green water he controlled.

Hanabi screamed; the water was burning her.

"It burns, doesn't it? As we're all introducing ourselves… My name is Acid, a minion of Typhoon. I hate playing games so let's end this now."

"You're a jerk!" Hanabi shouted at Acid.

"Wh-what?" the boy looked at the girl, bewildered.

"Yeah, you're a jerk! You hate playing games and you burnt me! What's wrong with you!" Hanabi was hiding behind her anger when she was actually about to cry, she looked down at Neene, "Neene! If I become Pretty Cure can I save the planet _and _teach this jerk a lesson?"

"Of course, ne!" replied the summer fairy.

Hanabi looked back up towards Acid, "Then I want to become Pretty Cure! I'm going to make you pay!"

A bright red light and energy erupted from Hanabi, destroying the walls of water that were created by Acid and pushing him away.

Lady Earthlight's voice then rung through Hanabi's ears,

"Young girl, you have chosen to become Pretty Cure and protect this planet. I put my faith into you and bestow upon you the power of the season of Summer."

A small ball of red light then came from above, falling onto Hanabi's right ring finger and formed a silver ring with a small orange sun encrusted on it. Hanabi's body glowed with a faint red light as the ring formed.

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" came Lady Earthlight's voice again.

Hanabi nodded, she knew what she had to do. Neene jumped out of Hanabi's arms, Acid was on the floor, unable to move and only looked at what was happening before him.

Hanabi took a deep breath, "Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!"

Hanabi's body glowed with a red light and her appearance changed. Her high, red ponytail became lighter in colour and navy blue arm warmers, leg warmers, both with pink details appeared on her body, accompanied by the sound of fireworks exploding. She felt a magnificent feeling of warmth, like she was bathing in the sun's light and was energized by it. Pink short pants and a pink vest exposing her midriff appeared on her. Two big yellow bows appeared, one on her hair and the other behind her pants. A pair of sandals finally appeared with a quiet pop.

Hanabi looked at her new appearance, "This is insane!" she then gasped, her body was moving on its own. Hanabi put her left hand behind her head and made a victory sign with her right, putting it out to face Acid, "The shining sun marks the season of Summer! Cure Flare!"

* * *

"Insane and _awesome_! I'm going to beat you up now!" Hanabi yelled and ran towards Acid who was now able to move again.

"Heh." Acid chuckled and put his hand out to block Flare's punch.

"Hngh!" Flare tried to kick him but Acid managed to block that too, frustrated, Flare did a series of backflips and moved away from the blue-haired boy.

The young girl was momentarily shocked at what she was now able to do, she looked up at Acid,

"You're cheating!" she glared at him.

"The first thing you look to do when you're losing is to say someone's cheating? How… immature." Acid made sure to emphasize the last word, knowing it would be the kind of thing to rile up a girl like Flare.

Flare pouted and ran up to Acid faking a punch and grabbing his leg instead; Acid didn't expect it.

"Shut up!" she picked him up, "Woah!" Flare was marveled at her strength.

"Hey! Put me down!" Acid was struggling and caught in Flare's powerful grip.

"Neene! I caught him! What do I do now?" Hanabi looked towards the fairy who was silently watching the two of them.

"Oh, I don't know, ne! Just do whatever comes to mind, ne!" the fairy was acting casually.

"Don't talk about me like if I'm not here!" Acid was angry at the way they spoke about him when he was right there.

Flare rolled her eyes and swung Acid round and round, gaining momentum, "This is for burning me!"

When Flare finally let go, Acid was thrown out towards the sea. Flare put her two hands out toward the boy, "Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!" her hands began to glow, "Oh boy! This is gonna be amazing~!"

Flare waited, "Wait, what's going on? Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!" she repeated the phrase and looked towards Neene, confused.

"You must be too tired from all that you just did, ne! You're new to this after all, ne!" Neene didn't seem too sure but neither of the two could think up an explanation.

"Really? Well, that sucks!" Flare looked back out towards the sea and then screamed, Acid was heading back towards them.

Acid looked towards the fairy and made his way towards her but Flare managed to run between him and the fairy, Flare put her hands out to stop the boy, "Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!" and her hands began to glow again.

Acid backed away, too weak to fight the girl, "You win this time, Cure Flare. Although next time, I won't be so easy on you. I'll make sure to come prepared with some inventions of mine." The boy smirked and then vanished.

Flare looked back towards Neene and de-transformed. Hanabi then sat down on the ground facing the fairy, "Phew! It looks like he didn't notice my powers weren't working!" the relief was evident in her voice.

"Great work, ne! Since you're Cure Flare now you have to help me find my brother and sisters now, ne! Save Earth and find your companions and stuff, ne!" the fairy was quick to cut to the chase.

"Ehh! Companions? Does that mean that they'll be other people like me?" Hanabi eyes narrowed, "You didn't tell me that! I… don't feel so special anymore…" Hanabi put her head down.

"This isn't about feeling special, ne! You have to save the planet, ne!" Neene looked at the girl with his eyes narrowed.

"Geez, I know, I know. I was kidding! I'm tired now though, can we just go and find that bag of candy I had?" Hanabi yawned and stretched her hands for Neene to jump into then.

"Yes, ne! I'm hungry too, ne!" Neene was excited until Hanabi reminded him of how much of it he ate, "You're not getting anymore! You ate so much already, there's probably only a few gummies remaining!" the two then made their way back to the direction of the docks.

On the way to the docks, Hanabi thought to herself, "Saving the planet, huh? I hope that with this, I'll finally be able to do something important..."

* * *

_Cure Daisy and Cure Flare, the Cures of Spring and Summer have now awakened thanks to the help of Mocchi and Neene. With just two more Cures remaining, the Earthlight's plan is going smoothly._

_In the next chapter, Purin seeks the Cure of Autumn while Hail finds herself preoccupied with something else._


	4. Autumn is Here, Cure Maple is Born!

Chapter Three - Autumn is Here, Cure Maple is Born!

* * *

It was mid-afternoon and Momoji Kano was in Konoha Middle School's music room playing her ocarina. The classroom was completely empty except for the brown-haired girl; she was propped on top of a desk next to a window as she played the wind instrument. The golden sunlight shone on young girl, adding to her already graceful appearance. Momoji was already naturally talented at playing the ocarina and she had already received lessons from her music teacher for the day but she was still at it, she had a recital in a few days after all. Momoji was so into playing her ocarina that she didn't even notice when the door to the music room slid open and a short, black-haired boy had walked in,

"Momo… that sounds wonderful."

"Who's there?" Momoji opened her eyes and looked towards the music room's door; it was Akito, a childhood friend of hers,

"Oh, Akito!" Momoji ran to her bag that was on the teacher's table and was packing her things up,

"I'm sorry! It completely slipped my mind that you were waiting for me. Do you have the time?"

Akito adjusted his glasses and looked down towards his watch, "Uh… yeah, it's a little after 5PM."

"Akito, why didn't you say anything?" Momoji was making her way towards the boy, she had finished packing up her things.

Akito adjusted his glasses and played with his dark hair for a bit, "I didn't want to bother you."

Momoji shook her head, "You're ridiculous sometimes, I swear. Nevertheless, are you ready to leave?"

Akito nodded, "I am." Momoji smiled at the black-haired boy, "Well then, shall we?"

The two friends walked out of the music room and stepped into an empty hallway which was lit by the afternoon sun. As Momoji turned to lock the door, Akito looked up and down the hallway; everyone must have been finished with their club activities by now. Akito had been roaming around the school since 3PM just waiting on Momoji to finish her music club activities. Unlike Momoji, Akito wasn't in any clubs but because the two were neighbors and close friends, they would walk home together every day.

Momoji had finished locking the door and looked towards Akito, she giggled,

"I'm sorry I took so long, I couldn't figure out which way to turn the key. Shall we head to the staffroom? I have to drop off these keys."

Akito rolled his eyes at Momoji's cluelessness and simply nodded as the two began to make their way down the empty hallway towards the staffroom. To the right of the hallway, opposite the classroom doors and billboards were windows that gave a view of the school's courtyard, Momoji looked down towards it and saw that no one was there, was the school completely empty? She thought that this was strange, she wasn't used to seeing the school this empty but she chalked up this anomaly to it being a Friday afternoon.

Momoji looked towards Akito as they approached the door to the staffroom, "I wonder if Ms. Sakamoto will be angry with me?"

"Angry with you? What for?" Akito was puzzled.

"For keep the key for so long, silly. She can't leave until the music room's locked and I was in there practicing long after she'd finished gave me lessons." Momoji explained.

Akito just shrugged and knocked on the door to the staffroom. Momoji was smiling as she shuffled her feet, making the old school's wooden floor squeak.

Akito smiled, suddenly remembering the melody that Momoji was playing earlier, "That tune you were playing, Momo, it was really good."

Momoji looked up towards him, "Of course it was. I wrote it myself, you know."

She and Akito both laughed at Momoji's usual exaggerated vanity but when the door to the classroom opened up they both went silent.

Momoji's eyes opened wide, "Ms. Sakamoto! I'm truly very sorry for having you wait so long!" the brown-haired girl bowed down to show the teacher respect. "Here are the keys to the music room." Momoji rose up and handed it to her.

"It's alright, Momoji. You just keep up the good work now, okay?" The young music teacher smiled at the teenage girl,

"Enjoy your weekend, Momoji and…" the teacher looked towards Akito, not knowing his name.

"Akito." The boy looked down, embarrassed that the teacher knew Momoji's name and not his.

"Ah! Yes, you're in my class, aren't you? Enjoy the rest of your day too, Akito." closed the door to the classroom.

Momoji looked towards Akito,

"But Akito, you're not in her music class with me, what is she talking about?"

"Just leave it alone, Momoji." Akito sighed, "Let's just go, alright?"

* * *

The two friends walked out of the deserted school into the golden sunlight, Akito looked towards Momoji and blushed, the wind was blowing her brown hair and the sunlight on her face made her look almost angelic.

"Akito? Is something wrong?" Momoji was worried that Akito was in a bad mood today.

While Momoji was a popular, gifted student at Konoha Middle School, Akito was a fairly average boy with no known talents and for that, people would often tease him and question why someone like Momoji would hang out with a boy like him.

"Nothing." Akito was quick to answer and the two walked in silence for a few minutes.

With Momoji sensing the tension she decided to observe the environment around them as they walked instead of forcing a conversation. The pathway to their school was lined with trees and Momoji remembered how beautiful it looked in autumn. She closed her eyes and smiled, visualizing the magnificent sight. Akito then let out a loud sigh,

"Momo… why do you hang out with me?"

Momoji laughed, "I knew you were thinking about that again. Why are you still paying attention to those people, Akito? You know me more than anyone else does and we've been friends since we were children, forget about them." Momoji smiled at the short boy who smiled back,

"Alright, Momo."

The tender moment between the two friends was ruined when Momoji's stomach started growling, loudly, making the girl blush instantly.

"How embarrassing!" Momoji reached up to her face to hide her blushing and accidentally dropped her schoolbag.

"Momo…" Akito shook his head and bent down to pick up Momoji's schoolbag. Akito really did know more about Momoji than anyone else, for one, the girl was rather clumsy and another thing was that she was a big eater.

Akito handed the schoolbag to Momoji, "Thank you!" she said as she put it over her shoulder,

"Now then, let's go to that soba shop you were telling me about earlier, okay?

"Sure." Akito nodded and they made their way to the soba shop which was conveniently not very far from their school.

* * *

"Are we going to eat here, Momo?" Akito asked while he and Momoji entered the soba shop. It was noisy and filled with businessmen who had just left work. The sounds of pots and pans being thrown were heard and there was loud chatter coming from a few schoolgirls who couldn't make up their minds on what to order at the counter. Momoji looked up and smiled at the lantern lamps that the store owner had up on the ceiling, the restaurant had a very traditional Asian look to it.

Momoji looked towards Akito,

"Of course we are. I love places like this, the atmosphere is so homely, don't you think?"

Akito smiled, "I didn't think of it that way until now."

The two had finally made their way up to the counter and were ordering,

"I'll pay for you alright, Akito? I owe you for having you wait so long."

"Momo, I… nevermind. Thanks." Akito knew that resisting would be futile.

The two made their orders and took their noodles when they received them, deciding to sit on the barstools at the counter and eat right there.

"Momo, are you sure that you can eat two whole bowls?" Akito eyed the girl as she picked up her chopsticks.

"Yup! Let's eat!" Momo split the chopsticks and started to devour her meal.

Momoji was starving and finished her meal quickly. After she finished her two bowls she smiled, the meal was delicious. She then looked towards Akito who was still eating. Bored, she started humming a tune that she liked to play on her ocarina. Akito looked up from his half-empty bowl towards Momoji and spoke,

"Momo, do you know what you want to do?"

"What I want to do? What do you mean?" the brown-haired girl was confused, it was such a sudden question.

"Like, where do you see yourself in ten years?" Akito simplified the question for her.

Momoji was silent for a while, "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just asking because I don't know myself." Akito was picking up a defensive tone in Momoji's voice.

"To be honest… I don't know either." Momoji looked down, "My father wants me to be a doctor or a lawyer or something while my mother wants me to get into the arts like her."

Akito put his chopsticks into his bowl, he was finished eating, "You're lucky that you're at least good in both academics and the arts. Weren't you getting into athletics too? I remember you only dropped out of gymnastics and track because your schedule was getting too hectic."

"Yes." Momoji nodded, she was still looking down towards her empty bowls, "You know, I never really had a chance to decide to pursue those things for myself. At least you can choose to get into something that you like."

"You like music though, don't you?" Akito asked her, Momoji looked up towards him, "I do! Music just comes naturally to me and I enjoy it unlike academics and sports but… I don't want to disappoint my father."

"I see." Akito adjusted his glasses and Momoji coughed into her right hand,

"Oh well, we still have time to decide, right? No need worrying about this now!" Momoji put her hand behind her head and laughed, accidentally hitting a salt shaker to the floor which caused Akito to laugh.

"You're so clumsy, Momo!" the boy was still laughing.

"Be quiet, you." Momoji said as she reached down to take up the salt shaker.

The two teens then picked up their schoolbags and left the restaurant. Outside, the sky was darkening but the streets of the business district were still crowded. There were sounds of cars passing by, their horns honking and people laughing and talking.

"It looks like we really should just head home now." Akito was looking at a light post that had only just came on.

"Okay…" Momoji started walking and then spoke without turning to face Akito,

"Can we go to the river first, though? Tomorrow is no school; I don't want to go straight home."

"Uh, sure!" Akito only agreed because Momoji sounded a little sad, he wondered if it was because of what they were talking about earlier.

* * *

When the two reached the river, the sky had completely darkened. There were some nearby light posts that lighted a small grassy area beside the river and Momoji and Akito made their way towards it. When they arrived, Momoji took a deep breath while Akito ran off to the river and put his hand into the cold water, he took some pebbles from the water into his hand and were toying with them. Momoji watched the boy but said nothing as she took out her ocarina and started playing.

Akito looked behind him, startled by the abrupt playing,

"You're really good, Momoji."

The boy noticed then how sad Momoji looked; she really was confused about what she wanted to do. He thought about what to say,

"Even though we don't know what we'll be doing in ten years' time, we'll be able to figure it out together. We'll move towards the future together, okay, Momo?" Even though Akito was talking to her, Momoji kept on playing.

"That sound, rin!" Above the two teenagers flew a strange brown bird. The bird had become interested in the sound that came from Momoji's ocarina.

"What a lovely melody and such a classy looking girl too, rin! I want someone like her to be a Pretty Cure, rin!"

The bird flew down towards Momoji and Akito, landing on the grass and listening to Momoji's performance. The bird went unnoticed by the two teens as Momoji continued playing.

When Momoji was done, she bowed and Akito applauded, playing along with Momoji's exaggerated vanity once again.

"Bravo, rin!" came a voice and Momoji and Akito turned towards the brown bird who was now eyeing Momoji closeby. The brown bird had on a red beret with a purple ribbon on its head and wore a brown and green dress.

"Momoji…" Akito spoke to Momoji who was making her way towards him.

"You're wonderful, rin! Will you become a Pretty Cure, rin!" The brown bird went on talking to the two teens.

Momoji and Akito were still quiet as Momoji reached out to hold Akito's hand. Holding on to it, Akito noticed that Momoji was shaking.

"Oh, how rude of me, rin! My name is Purin, the fairy of Autumn and I want you to save Lady Earthlight, rin!"

"I-it... i-it's… Akito, that bir- the bird is… talking." Momoji was in a strange type of shock.

"Momo?" Akito had no idea what was going on, he thought that this was a dream for the most part.

Momoji continued, "It's a talking bird, Akito."

* * *

Meanwhile, a green-haired woman wearing a purple bodysuit was walking down the stretch next to the river where Momoji, Akito and Purin were when she suddenly heard a loud scream,

"It's a talking bird, Akito!" Momoji had started screaming and it was so loud that it managed to distract the woman.

The woman stopped dead in her tracks, "A talking bird? Could it be that pudding fairy?"

The woman looked around to see where the commotion was coming from, "Aha! There!"

The green-haired woman spotted the two teenagers and the fairy and started to make her way towards them, slowly, she was hungry and tired.

"Keep your voice down, rin! This is important, rin!" Akito finally managed to calm Momoji down as Purin explained the story of Earthlight and Pretty Cure, "And that's why I want a classy lady like you to become Pretty Cure, rin!"

Although Momoji wasn't sure what to to believe, she started her vanity act up once again,

"Well, I am classy after all." Momoji chuckled and struck a pose, "Don't say that, you know how clumsy you get whenever you say that!" Akito reminded the girl.

Momoji simply glared at the boy and turned back towards Purin,

"So, Pretty Cure, right? In order to save Earth, you want me to become one?" Purin was about to answer when the green-haired woman appeared before the three,

"Pudding! Com-…" the woman then suddenly stopped speaking and just stared at the two teenagers or, more specifically, Akito.

"I thought your name was Purin? And who's she?" Momoji questioned,

"She's the enemy! Her name is Hail and she can't get my name right, rin!" answered Purin.

"Why is she staring at me like that?" Akito was blushing, Hail was staring at him and with the way she was dressed, Akito just couldn't look at her without blushing.

"Mister… wh-what's your name?" Hail was speaking to Akito in a quiet voice; she was sounding kind of… shy?

"A-Akito…" he answered back.

Hail blushed and turned away from the teens and Purin, "Akito~! He's so cute! What should I do~!"

Hail faced the young boy and ran towards him, "Mr. Akito~!" she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, his face was accidentally rubbing into Hail's chest.

Momoji started screaming, "Akito! What are you doing?"

Akito didn't know what to do; a part of him liked what was going on when another part was telling him to push the strange woman off of him.

"What a lewd woman you are!" Momoji pushed Hail off of her friend.

"Lewd! Leave Akito and I alone, you ugly wrench!" Hail was infuriated; she hated girls, especially pretty girls like Momoji. Hail turned back towards Akito,

"Don't worry, dear, I'll be back… I just have to take care of something first. Hail!" Hail was going to attack Momoji and Purin.

"Run, Momo-rin!" squeaked Purin, "She's going to attack!"

Hail threw pieces of ice at Momoji and Purin, damaging them.

"Stop it!" Akito ran up to Hail and grabbed at her.

"Oh, Akito~! I know you're young but let's take things slow!" Hail was clearly misunderstanding the boy's actions.

"Stop it, I… don't mean that!" the boy blushed and let go of the green-haired woman.

"What? Is it because of _her_? I know how to fix that, just wait and see! Hail!" Hail was angry again, she called forth more balls of ice and was ready to aim it at Momoji and Purin.

Purin flew into Momoji's arms, "Run, Momo-rin!"

Momoji ran with Purin, avoiding the blasts of ice from Hail.

"Momo-rin! You have to become Pretty Cure if you want to stop this woman, rin!"

"I don't know, Purin!" Momoji jumped to the right to avoid another blast of ice from Hail,

"That sounds like such an important task. I don't know if I can help you!" Hail had launched another blast of ice at Momoji and the fairy and this time, Hail barely missed. Momoji couldn't keep this up for long. The fairy knew that Momoji would become tired sooner or later and tried to persuade Momoji again,

"You can do it, Momo-rin! And even if you can't there are other people to help you, rin! You'll be able to save the planet together with others, rin!"

Although Purin was referring to the other Cures, Momoji thought back to what Akito told her while she was playing her ocarina,

"We'll move towards the future together, okay?" remembering Akito's words Momoji smiled, she was happy that she had such a good friend.

"Akito!" Momoji called out to black-haired boy, still dodging Hail's onslaught of ice attacks, "You promise that you'll move towards the future with me no matter what, right?"

"Of course, Momo!" Akito had an idea of what was about to happen.

"That's it!" Hail was getting tired and just wanted to get Purin and be done with her mission, she grabbed Akito,

"Girl, hand over the fairy or else!"

Momoji looked down towards Purin, "Please turn me into Pretty Cure, Purin."

Purin nodded.

Momoji then started glowing with a gold light and a wave of energy emitted from her, knocking Hail and Akito down, giving the boy a chance to run away from the woman.

Lady Earthlight's voice then spoke, "Young girl, you have chosen to become Pretty Cure and protect this planet. I put my faith into you and bestow upon you the power of the season of Autumn."

An amber leaf then fell from above, falling onto Momoji's right ring finger and formed a silver ring encrusted with an amber leaf; Momoji's body glowed with a faint gold light as the ring formed.

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" came Lady Earthlight's voice again.

"Say that, rin!" Purin explained.

Momoji then nodded and threw her hand in the air, "Pretty Cure! Altermode! Switch on!"

"So over-the-top, rin! I knew I'd like you, rin!"

Accompanied by flashes of gold light and maple leaves, Momoji gained a new appearance. Energy was welling up in the brown-haired girl. Her hair became longer and she gained a new outfit; boots, a yellow skirt and a yellow top, all adorned with leaf details. When she finished transforming she looked at herself, "This is so fashionable!"

* * *

After the fantastical light show, Hail looked towards the girl, "What are you?"

Purin flapped her wings, "She's Pretty Cure, rin!"

Momoji looked towards Hail and smiled. Momoji stretched her right hand to the right and put her left hand on her hip, "Amber leaves mark the season of Autumn! Cure Maple!"

Hail stared at Maple for a while and made a similar pose,

"My name is Hail! Minion of Typhoon and sworn enemy to Earth's balance!" she narrowed her eyes at the new Cure,

"Don't think you're going to show me up in front of Mr. Akito, Cure Maple!"

"Wh-what?" Maple ignored the woman and looked towards Purin,

"Purin, what's going on? Strange words are just coming to me and I don't know what's going on."

"Just let it happen, rin! And keep up the glitz, rin!" Purin was _very_ pleased that a girl like Momoji ended up taking up her offer.

Maple looked towards Akito who was in awe at her new appearance, he spoke up when he noticed that she was looking at him, "You're so cool, Momo!"

"Please, call me Cure Maple." Maple giggled,

"And Akito, find some cover, I don't want you to get hurt!" Maple shouted out to her friend and then faced Hail.

"This is so exciting, rin!" Purin kept looking from Hail to Maple, ready for what was about to go down.

Hail ran up towards Maple, "How dare you suggest that I was going to hurt, Mr. Akito!"

Maple backed away from Hail with incredible speed, "He'll never fall for a predator like you!"

Hail was taken aback, "Predator? At least I don't look like one, unlike you!"

Soon the two females entered an insult argument instead of fighting.

Maple sarcastically laughed at Hail's insult, "With all that make-up on?"

Hail screamed in rage and tried to scratch Maple's face but she managed to evade that attack as well.

"Fight, Maple! Use your powers, rin!" Purin was tired of what was going on and wanted some action.

"Do your best, Maple!" came Akito's voice from afar.

"Oh right, I forgot that I have powers now."

Maple put her hands out in front of her, towards Hail, still expertly dodging the woman's attacks,

Maple didn't know if this was beginner's luck or what but she was happy that she was yet to get hurt,

"Autumn Gust!" a strong gust of wind then blew from Maple's hands, pushing away Hail.

Hail put her hands on the ground before making impact, managing to stabilize herself,

Hail narrowed her eyes at Maple and started spinning,

"Hail Storm!" Sharp ice appeared and flew towards Maple which managed to cut her.

"Ah!" Maple looked at the cuts on her arms, she must have gotten cut under her clothing too but she couldn't see them. She thought that maybe she was getting too cocky.

Maple looked up towards Hail and put one hand out,

"Precure!" Maple's hands began to glow, "Autumn Festival!" with that said, a powerful gust of wind blew, accompanied by razor-sharp maple leaves that shot out from the girl's hand.

Hail growled,

"This is ridiculous!" Hail jumped an incredible height and dodged the attack, "You can say that you've won this time, _Maple_, but don't think that I'll ever surrender Mr. Akito to you!"

"Ehh!" Akito couldn't believe that the woman was still thinking about him.

Hail looked towards Akito and started doing a little dance mid-air, "Mr. Akito must have been the reason that I'm so weak today~!"

The woman then had a sudden mood shift to when she looked towards Maple and yelled at the girl, "That and I haven't ate since who knows when so don't think that you're some big-shot here, missy!"

The green-haired woman then looked towards Akito again and blew a kiss, "Mwah!" before she disappeared.

* * *

"That was so boring, rin!" Purin was disappointed by the amount of fighting that Maple and Hail did.

Maple then collapsed and returned to looking like Momoji in a flash of orange light.

"Momoji!" Akito ran towards the girl, "Are you okay?"

Purin flew towards the two teenagers, "Good job, Momo-rin! I knew you would be the right choice!"

Akito looked towards the bird, slightly angry that she wasn't concerned about Momoji's condition,

"Enough about that, is she alright?"

"Yes, rin! She must just be tired from fighting, rin!"

Momoji opened her eyes, "Akito, I'm so glad. And you too, Purin…"

"Don't speak if you're too tired to, Momoji!"

Momoji took a deep breath, "I…"

"Momoji!" Akito was worried, could she really die here?

Suddenly, Momoji's stomach started to growl again, loudly.

Momoji moaned, "I'm so hungry, Mr. Akito~!"

"How obtuse of you, rin!" Purin was shocked at Momoji's behavior while Akito simply laughed, Purin obviously didn't know what type of girl Momoji really was.

"Being a Cure makes you hungry, you two wouldn't understand!" Momoji laughed as Purin and Akito shook their heads in disapproval.

"Let's just go home, alright, Momo? It's been a pretty long and strange day." Akito eyed the small brown bird as he said "strange".

Momoji nodded, "That really would be best right now, Mr. Akito~!"

* * *

_In the next chapter, Yukino Matou notices a strange stuffed animal in her room as she takes notes on how to make friends from her favorite Saturday morning program. _

* * *

_A/N1: I don't know what prompted it (thinking it was this story would be too vain of me) but the artist of Season's Touch put out an English description for fans of her artwork that can't speak English. I am not going to change my plans for the story as a response to it but I have made one correction. Mei's sister, Nina, is now renamed Satsuki, the name chosen by the artist._

_A/N2: Since I've gotten a beta reader(Peder Andersson) who's helped me sharpen my writing abilities, I've revised the past few chapters which is why this one took "a little while" to come out compared to the others but it's nothing major (more descriptive writing, some errors fixed, etc.) aside from Hanabi getting a new line at the end of her chapter._

_Review Responses: I am going to finish this. I'm actually having way more fun than I thought I would be having while writing this. It's going to be pretty long though!_

_On Hanabi's chapter, I thought the same but don't worry, each character is going to be well-developed by the end of the story._


	5. Winter is Here, Cure Snow is Born!

Chapter Four – Winter is Here, Cure Snow is Born!

* * *

It was around 6PM when Yukino Matou opened the door to her home. She had decided to roam around her new neighborhood after school just to get familiar with it. The door squeaked opened as she stepped in and the warmth of her house enveloped her. The scent of food was in the air and she took it in; even though she had only been here for a month the house was already starting to feel like home. The sound of loud footsteps coming towards Yukino broke the tranquil state she was in and she put her bag down on the carpeted floor, ready for the assault,

"Big sis!"

A young boy with dark blue hair just like Yukino's ran up to her and tackle-hugged her, "Welcome home!"

"Hi, Reiji."

Reiji was considerably shorter than Yukino, being just five years old and was only able to reach his sister's waist. Yukino noticed that the boy's hair was wet; he must have taken a bath only a while ago. She gently pushed the boy off of her, taking note of the damp area in her navy blue skirt from her brother's wet hair. Yukino looked up and saw her mother walking towards the two of them with a towel in hand,

"Yukino, welcome home. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, okay?" the dark-haired woman smiled and Yukino responded with just a quick nod and an,

"Okay."

Yukino's mother took Reiji's hand and handed him the towel dry his hair, scolding the boy for not drying it properly as they made their way towards the kitchen. Yukino properly hooked her bag on the stand near the front door and made her way upstairs to her room. She flicked on the lights and looked around the room; she didn't bother to decorate it much. There was a simple closet, a small television, a bed with light-blue sheets and a wooden desk with a white desk lamp placed on top of it.

"Plain, just like me." She thought.

Yukino took off her school uniform, untying the red tie and taking off the light blue jacket, she looked into the mirror that was on the closet door. Toying with her hair-bun a little, she started picturing herself with various hairstyles that might make her look more vibrant,

"I mightn't be able to pull those off anyways." she mumbled to herself and opened her closet door.

Yukino decided on just wearing on some plain pajamas and headed down to the kitchen to eat. Her mother, father and Reiji were already seated, waiting on her. Her father was the first to notice her,

"We were waiting on you, Yuki."

"Thanks, dad." Yukino pulled a chair and sat down, noticing a pink tablecloth on the glass dinner table. Yukino's mother used to put that tablecloth on the table at their old home all the time. She smiled a little, that foreign feel that the house had since they moved to Kagetsu was starting to diminish.

A little into the family's dinner, Yukino's mother asked her father about his new job. Yukino looked around nervously, knowing what was about to come. Both of her parents then asked Reiji about his new school. Yukino's stomach twisted into a knot, she was going to be next, what would she say? Yukino pushed some rice into her mouth, savoring the taste and closing her eyes, preparing for the coming question and then it came,

"How about you, Yukino? How was your first week at school? "

Yukino swallowed the mouthful of rice and then replied, "Fine."

It was her father's turn, "Did you make any friends?"

Yukino nodded, "Mhm."

Yukino's mother then came at her again, "How is the schoolwork going?"

This, Yukino didn't have to lie about, "Great."

Yukino's father then spoke, "Excellent, I hope things go well for the both of you kids. I told you all things would be fine after moving!"

Yukino then stood up, "Yes. I'm done and I'm tired. Thanks for the food, good night."

"Good night!" her family replied, Reiji was especially loud and enthusiastic while wishing his sister a good night.

Yukino could hear her family talking as she made her way back to her room. Yukino twisted the doorknob to her room, opening it. Once inside, she turned off the lights, set her alarm clock to 8:25AM and then went to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Land of Gaia, Typhoon and his minions had taken it over as their base of operations. The lush land was now dead, the magnificent trees that stood proud were completely gone and the lakes, all dried up. In Lady Earthlight's palace, Typhoon was speaking to his minions, angry that they had allowed even one fairy to complete its mission. Typhoon's current form was now a strange red mist that filled the palace and gave off a red glow. His minions stood amidst the strange gas as he shouted at them,

"You mean that there are now three Cures? And you were defeated by each?"

Hail was the first to speak up and defend herself, "But master, I was unprepared and I was exhausted! I had no idea that they'd be so powerful!"

The room was quiet for a while and then Acid spoke up,

"She's right. We had nothing to defend ourselves with. I'm ashamed to admit that I was probably the least prepared, I'm not good at physical combat."

Typhoon was silent, thinking over what his minions were saying. Unfortunately, Thunder was getting agitated,

"Although everyone here knows how unmatched my power is, I would still like something to help us defeat them!"

Hail and Acid turned their heads towards Thunder and sighed. The man was being delusional as always. The red mist around the three humans then thickened,

"You still have a chance to prevent the birth of another Cure. I'm not strong enough to go to Earth but using these, you'll be able to channel some of my power."

Some of the mist around the three humans thickened and appeared in front of them as a dense, red ball,

"The most effective way to use these is to create beasts from Earth's environment called Dokodar."

Thunder grabbed the red ball and sneered at it, "I don't need some beast to fight for me!"

Typhoon was not confidant in Acid's abilities as he was the youngest and as Thunder was being arrogant, he chose Hail for the next mission,

"Hail, you go after the last fairy."

Hail rolled her eyes a little, she just wanted to go find Akito again, "Me! I mean… yes, Lord Typhoon."

With that, Hail disappeared.

* * *

Yukino awoke as soon as her alarm went off, she hurriedly hit the button to turn it off and walked up and locked the door to her room. She then took a deep breath and ran to the television that was in the corner of the room, turned it on and sat down in front of it. Yukino looked at the time on the television,

"It's almost here." She muttered.

Yukino then noticed the windows in her room were open and hurriedly closed them and pulled the curtains, her room was now almost completely dark. Yukino sat back down in front of the television, it was time. The commercials on the television ended and what Yukino was waiting for finally began to show. Sparkles and little girls in overly designed costumes of red, blue, yellow and green danced around on her television screen accompanied by an upbeat song.

"Quartet Heart Princess, the new 'Princess' installment." Yukino had a grin on her face.

The song continued on and then the show finally started. It was about a young girl who moved to a new school and through a series of events joined a club with three other girls. The four girls then gained powers which allowed them to transform by a small pixie. Yukino watched all of this intently,

"They're so cute." She whispered. On screen, the transfer student spoke up,

"We're friends now, right? We can do anything together. Let's save Dia's kingdom!"

Yukino had a small smile on her face, "This plot is so much better than last season's."

The girls on screen had apparently made up their mind to save Dia's kingdom and shouted,

"Four Hearts Union!"

The girls then transformed and fought a monster that came to attack Dia. "Princess Parade" was the name of the overly long attack that the girls performed and defeated the monster with. Yukino was a little sad that the heroines resorted to their final attack so quickly. The transfer student in the show was then formerly welcomed to the club and a next episode preview followed,

Yukino was disappointed "It's done, already?"

Her sadness ended when another upbeat song started playing which the cast of Quartet Heart Princess danced along to. Yukino got up and started to dance along with the song.

"Knock, knock."

A knock came to Yukino's door and she turned off her television in the blink of an eye and flicked on the light switch. She then cleared her throat and opened the door to her room and looked down to find Reiji,

"Reiji?"

Reiji's eyes were lit up, "Were you watching Quartet Heart Princess?"

"No, I wasn't." Yukino then closed the door and locked it again, she then sighed,

"That was close."

Yukino put on her television again but Quartet Heart Princess was over. She turned off the television and then laid down on her bed, replaying the events of the show in her head. She wished that her first day had gone like the girl's in Quartet Heart Princess. If only she was that expressive then maybe she could make lots of friends, maybe even become a transforming heroine too. She laughed at that last thought and then sighed,

"I'll just start fresh from next week."

Yukino's first week at school was terrible social-wise; she hadn't made any friends yet. Ever since her first day where she couldn't find anything to say when the other students asked her about her interests Yukino started to think that any further attempts at making friends were futile. One of her main interests was so embarrassing that she couldn't even bring it up and she was never able to keep up a conversation with her classmates. One of the things she hated most about herself was how whenever she opened up her mouth to speak to someone, she'd freeze and nothing would come out. Yukino hit herself on the head softly,

"Why am I so awkward?"

Yukino then turned towards her desk and noticed something that she hadn't seen there before, a stuffed penguin. Puzzled, Yukino rose up, walked up to it and eyed the thing,

"Maybe Reiji brought this in when I was sleeping."

Yukino put her hand forward and picked up the toy from the wooden desk and squeezed it,

"Ow!"

"Ow? What a strange doll." She squeezed it again,

"That hurts, ji!"Yukino wondered whose idea it was to have a stuffed doll yell out in pain when you squeezed it, she squeezed it again just for fun,

"Stop it, ji!" the stuffed penguin then jumped out of Yukino's hands.

Yukino was shell-shocked, the stuffed penguin with its little tuxedo and top hat was on top of her desk, moving around and talking to her, scolding her for hurting it,

"You don't go around squeezing innocent fairies, ji!"

Yukino was confused, "You're a fairy?"

The odd stuffed animal then took off his hat and bowed, "My name is Uji and I'm the fairy of Winter! I was sent here to find Pretty Cure and have them save Lady Earthlight and planet Earth, ji! Just like in that show you were watching, ji!"

Yukino didn't know what to say, she was just embarrassed and confused, "Don't mention that, it's embarrassing!"

The penguin looked confused, "What do you mean, ji?"

Yukino was blushing slightly, "I'm not the kind of girl to watch that kind of thing. I'm too old for it too."

"But you watched it, ji! That makes you that kind of girl!"

Yukino shook her head, confused, was this a joke? Why was this penguin talking to her and telling her that it was alright to watch children's shows? She had been excited for the new "Princess" season for a while now, perhaps this excitement manifested in a dream. Maybe she hadn't woken up yet. Yukino thought to herself that this must be a dream.

Uji made a small cane appear in his hand and tapped the desk that he was on top of with it, trying to get Yukino's attention,

"So, would you like to help save your planet and become Pretty Cure, ji?"

Yukino looked down at the animal and smiled, "Will it really be like Quartet Heart Princess?"

"Exactly like in Quartet Heart Princess, ji! You have to save our worlds and Lady Earthlight, ji!"

Yukino awkwardly looked around the room, not knowing what to say.

Uji looked at her and sighed, "You think this is a game, don't you? I'm serious, ji! Earth's safety is at stake!"

* * *

A little away from Yukino's house was Hail; she was jumping from roof to roof, looking for Uji. With Typhoon's power, the green-haired woman was able to sense the nearby fairy.

* * *

Back at Yukino's house, Uji had just explained to Yukino what was going on again so she'd understand,

"I'm not sure I understand then. You want me to help save the planet? Why?"

Uji took off his top hat and waved it at Yukino, "You want to be a heroine, don't you? Why not accept, ji?"

Yukino looked up in thought, "I'd… _like_ to be one but I'm not the type of person who can be one. I can't make any fancy speeches about protecting the Earth or anything like that. I'm not like the girls in Quartet Heart Princess."

Uji shook his head, "Once your heart is in the right place, ji! That's all that matters."

* * *

Outside, Hail was in front of Yukino's house, she had finally pin-pointed the location of the fairy. Yukino's street was deserted, it was cloudy again and raining slightly. Hail looked around the area and then looked up at the gray skies,

"I'm so tired. I don't think I can handle this nonsense right now." She sighed,

"I wonder what Mr. Akito is doing?"

Hail looked down at the red orb that Typhoon had given her and looked up at the clouds again.

"I wonder if I can…? But I might get in trouble. Oh well, what the hell? This is boring."

Hail shrugged and raised up the red orb,

"Uh, go! Do something! Make me a pet!"

The red orb started glowing and shot out a red beam towards the clouds in the sky. A loud zapping noise echoed throughout the neighborhood and the clouds that were in the sky started circling around the red beam.

"Oh crap, is this supposed to be happening?" Hail was slightly worried.

The clouds started coming close together and formed a single, dense cloud. The dense cloud then descended from the air towards Hail, steadily decreasing in size until it was about the size of a car. The red orb within Hail's hand started to shake violently and it broke, fading away into the air. Hail must have used up all of its power. The cloud was finally in front of Hail and she walked up closer to it, inspecting it,

Hail scoffed, "What the hell is this thing? How useless!"

"Nimby!"

Hail looked around her, startled by the strange voice,

"Nimby!"

Hail looked towards the cloud, "Was it this thing?"

A pair of eyes and a small mouth suddenly appeared on the cloud along with what appeared to be blush on the cloud's cheeks. Tentacles grew out underneath the cloud and it started to resemble a cartoonish, large jellyfish.

"Yes, by! You asked for a pet so here I am. My name is Nimby."

Hail stood in shock, "You must be joking. I didn't mean a pet like a _pet. _I meant something who would listen to what I said!"

Nimby's blinked its eyes, "I'll listen to you, mommy!"

Hail felt like fainting, "Mommy?"

The woman then had an idea and looked towards Yukino's house, "Well… in that case. Do mommy a favour, Nimby. Go into that house and get something for me."

Nimby blinked its large eyes, "Okay, mommy."

Hail was surprised that it put up no resistance but explained what it is she wanted Nimby to do.

"Do that for me, pretty please?" Hail then disappeared.

"Right, I must make mommy proud." Nimby innocently said.

* * *

Meanwhile in Yukino's room, Yukino was asking Uji more about Pretty Cure,

"There are three other Cures, then?" Yukino asked in a disappointed tone. While she was warming up to the idea, she was worried that her future teammates might dislike her. Yukino would often not participate in things because of this perceived hate.

"Yes, ji!"

"Ding-dong" the doorbell to Yukino's house was ringing; Yukino jumped a little at the sound of it but ignored it and continued on with the conversation,

"Okay then. I don't know about this. What if I introduce you to someone else who might accept your offer?"

Uji was about to reply when a scream from downstairs startled the two of them. Yukino hurriedly made her way towards the door, opened it and ran towards the front door; Uji tagging along slowly behind the girl.

* * *

What Yukino witnessed when she reached the front door was strange and scary at the same time; a large, white jellyfish was tickling her mother. Yukino shouted,

"Mother!"

Her mother was unable to answer and was only laughing; the odd jellyfish then spoke with a cartoonish, high-pitched voice, "More people to play with, by!" The jellyfish grew out a tentacle and moved it towards Yukino.

"Poof!"

A puff of white smoke had appeared in front of Yukino and pushed away the tentacle, Uji had used his small cane's magic power to defend Yukino,

"Yukino! It's evil, stay away from it!"

The strange creature was offended, "My name isn't evil! It's Nimby and I'm a girl, by!"

"Mommy!" a voice then came from behind Yukino and she turned around and noticed Reiji behind her. Yukino's father had run out to see what the commotion was about too,

"Yukino! Get over here!" Yukino's father had picked up a now crying Reiji into his hands and from the look on his face, he was trying to figure out how he could get to his wife. Meanwhile, Nimby was still throwing a tantrum,

"I'm a pretty girl, by! Don't call me an 'it', I'll tickle you all for that."

Yukino was about to brace herself for Nimby's tentacles when she found herself back in her room in a puff of smoke.

"I… what?" Yukino looked around and noticed Uji staring at her. Yukino was angry,

"Why did you bring me back here? My family is out there, I have to save them!" Yukino was starting to make her way towards her family when Uji waved his cane and closed the door,

"What did you say about not being able to make a speech? You'd be perfect as the Cure of Winter, Yukino. Become Pretty Cure and save the planet, ji! You'd be able to save your family not only this time but also when the planet starts to deteriorate."

Yukino looked at the fairy and nodded,

"Okay."

A bright white light then shot out of Yukino's body, emitting a wave of energy and causing some items in Yukino's room to fall over.

"What is that, by!"

Yukino heard Nimby's voice from the living room and narrowed her eyes in rage; she'd make that silly thing pay when she had the chance.

Lady Earthlight's voice then echoed in Yukino's ears,

"Young girl, you have chosen to become Pretty Cure and protect this planet. I put my faith into you and bestow upon you the power of the season of Winter."

A small ball of white light then came from above, falling onto Yukino's right ring finger and formed a silver ring with a small snowflake encrusted on it. Yukino's body glowed with a faint white light as the ring formed.

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" came Lady Earthlight's voice again.

Yukino ran out of her room and towards Nimby and her family. She knew what she had to do; she had seen this sort of stuff on television already. When Yukino reached the entrance to her house her entire family was laying in front of the door, laughing and being tickled by Nimby. In the back of her mind she wondered if this ridiculous scene could really all be a dream but fake or not, her love for her family propelled her to save them. Yukino covered half of her face with her hand and the ring started to glow a faint white light,

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!"

With that phrase said, the ring started to glow brighter. Yukino her hand on her chest, it was cold. The ring shone a white light and her torso was covered with ice which then shattered. A white dress with blue details appeared where the ice previously was. Yukino then touched her legs and the same thing happened but this time, white long stockings appeared along with white heels. Two poinsettia flowers appeared on the strap of the heel which made Yukino smile, remembering Christmas. Yukino than put her hands above her head and clapped them together and her arms froze which led to long gloves appearing on them. Yukino's clap resulted in snowflakes falling from her hands which tied her hair up into a high bun with a large white bow as they fell. Yukino noticed that her hair had also turned white. The now white-haired girl then put her hands on her shoulders and blue snowflake earrings appeared with a tiny pop and snow gathered around Yukino's neck, forming a long blue scarf. Yukino finished her transformation with a pose, her right hand in front of her forehead and her left hand stretching across her body, reaching to the right.

"Gentle snowfall marks the season of Winter! Cure Snow!"

* * *

Nimby was staring at Cure Snow, "You're so pretty, by!"

Yukino then shot balls of ice from her hand which hit Nimby,

"Ow!"

Snow narrowed her eyes, "Let my family go or in the name of the Earth I will punish you."

"If you want to fight then we'll fight, by!" Nimby's eyes then turned red and the world around Cure Snow became a brownish hue. The laughing that came from Yukino's family stopped, it was as if time stood stopped.

Snow looked around her, scared. She looked at her family on the ground near Nimby.

"Uji~!" Yukino's family disappeared in a puff of smoke. Uji shouted out to Snow,

"Don't worry, ji! I carried them somewhere safe!"

Snow smiled at Uji and gave him a nod and turned back towards Nimby who was moving closer to her,

"Silly girl. Do you really think you can do me anything?"

The strange jellyfish then altered her body and gave herself a humanoid form. Nimby still had a strange, jellylike white skin which made her look like some sort of alien. Nimby then grew out hair which resembled its old tentacles which she used to sting Snow.

"Ah!" Cure Snow yelled out in pain.

"Cure Snow!" Uji shouted out, worry was in his voice. Uji remembered that he didn't even know who or what Nimby was. Typhoon had three human minions, didn't he?

Nimby extended out her left hand and it changed into a sword,

"This planet will be thrown into chaos and Pretty Cure will not be able to stop it."

Cure Snow noticed the sword and made a shield of ice appear before her, she made it just in time as the sound of Nimby's sword hit the shield of ice.

Cure Snow spoke up, "This planet is my home! I won't let you harm it!"

Snow's shield disappeared as Nimby changed her sword into what appeared to be a small cannon and shot out pieces of slime at Cure Snow. Snow put out her hands and froze the balls of slime that was coming towards her, making them fall onto the floor and shatter. Nimby spoke up again,

"Why protect a planet which means nothing to you? You have nothing tying you down to this world. I can tell from your eyes, Cure Snow." Nimby turned her hand back into a sword.

Snow managed to form her own sword out of ice and managed to hit Nimby's as she went to strike her resulting in the two swords clashing. Snow grunted trying to keep Nimby at bay with her sword,

"You don't know anything about me! I have ties to this world, my family lives here and I'll soon come to have friends who live here!"

Snow was infuriated, how dare Nimby try to assume things about her?

"I want to protect this world. I want to start anew; I _will_ form connections that tie me to this world. I'll… believe in myself."

Uji was watching Snow from afar and smiling, "Cure Snow, you're making a heroic speech after all, ji!"

With their two swords clashing, Nimby and Snow were looking at each other face-to-face. Nimby's narrow red eyes were staring into Snow's and while they were horrifying, Snow's new found resolve gave her courage,

"Ugh!"

Snow finally managed to push Nimby off of her. The white-haired girl threw her sword at Nimby and made her hands into a fist, causing it to shatter from afar. A few pieces of ice flew in Nimby's eyes, buying Snow a little time. Cure Snow put her hands in front of her and they glowed with a white light,

"Precure! Winter Parade!"

Shards of ice and snowflakes started to come out of Snow's hands, flying into Nimby's body,

"Ow!"

The strange creature's eyes then returned to black and she regained her jellyfish-like appereance with a loud pop,

"I'm going to tell my mommy about this!"

Snow stopped her attack as the jellyfish teleported outside of Yukino's house; Snow followed after it. Outside, all plant life appeared to be lifeless and the sky had taken on a reddish color. The world had a hellish appearance all because of Nimby's powers. Snow stopped staring at the alien world around her and spotted the jellyfish in the street; she faced her hands towards it,

"Precure! Wint-"

She was too late, Nimby had started flying up into the sky and Snow realized that she would miss even if she shot at it. The world around Snow then returned to its original appearance. Snow detransformed in a flash of white light.

* * *

Yukino turned towards her house and spotted Uji there. Uji noticed Yukino's worried expression and knew what she was worried about,

"I put your family into their beds and cast a spell to put them to sleep, ji! Don't worry!"

Yukino ran up to Uji and knelt down so she was closer to him, "Thank you, Uji."

Uji blushed, "It's nothing, ji! You were amazing as a Cure, Yukino."

Yukino nodded, "Thank you. I'll save this planet because I want to protect it. I want to protect my family and everyone on Earth."

"_I_? You don't have to do it alone, Yukino. We're friends, you know. You'll get more friends when you meet the other Cures and my siblings too, ji!"

Yukino's heart started beating faster, "Knowing that makes me excited for the future but I'm a little scared. That fight was…"

Uji then reminded the dark-haired girl, "You don't have to be scared alone, ji!"

Yukino started smiling again, "Uji… you're right."

Yukino then stood up and watched the clearing sky, she was Cure Snow now. Although she knew it was a bad idea to look at Pretty Cure as some sort of game, she couldn't help but be happy knowing that she was like the magical girls that she watched on television now.

* * *

_All four Cures have now been born but Typhoon's minions have all gained a new power which might lead to hard times to the Cures. A strange new creature has also appeared in the form of Nimby leading to an additional enemy for Pretty Cure._

_In the next chapter, Mei Tarano and Mocchi set out to find the other Cures and Mocchi's siblings. Mocchi insisting on passing by Rainbow Candy proves to be beneficial to their mission._

* * *

_A/N : The Land of Gaia is the name of the fairies and Earthlight's land. This is one of the changes/additions I made to the earlier chapters. Also, someday I'll write a proper transformation description for these girls, someday._


	6. The Pretty Cure are Overconfident?

Chapter Five – The Pretty Cure are Overconfident? Daisy Meets Flare!

* * *

"Mmm…"

It was in the middle of the day and Mei was stirring in her bed; she was exhausted from the events of the day past. The sunlight was hitting the young girl's face through her window, disturbing her deep slumber. Through half-closed eyes, she glimpsed in the direction of the clock that hung on the wall and was just barely able to tell the time through her hazy vision, "12PM." she groaned, "Wait… 12PM!"

Mei sprang up from her bed, throwing the pink covers off of herself; she had never slept in this late before. Mei wondered why Satsuki hadn't woken her as she grabbed her toothbrush and made her way to the bathroom. On her way to brush her teeth she spotted Satsuki and Mocchi in the living room and quietly said to herself,

"It looks like yesterday really wasn't a dream, was it?"

In the bathroom, Mei could overhear Satsuki and Mocchi's conversation and heard her sister let out a loud sigh,

"Alright, Mocchi. Let's try this again. Say my name only this time, don't say 'chi!' or else I'm not going to give you another one of these gummies."

The little fairy replied with a, "Satsuki, chi!" and Satsuki covered her face with her hands and groaned.

Mei was now finished brushing her teeth and was looking into the bathroom mirror while she tyed her brown hair. She finished her style by tying the pigtails with her almost signature green ribbons,

"There. That should do it." She said.

The girl put on a gentle smile and made her way to the living room. Satsuki was laying down on the beige couch and still talking to Mocchi,

"So are they humans where you're from?"

"No, chi! It's only the fairies of the seasons and Lady Earthlight in the Land of Gaia, chi!"

"So, what's it like there?"

Mei didn't want to disturb the two and was interested in finding out more about Mocchi's world so she just stood and listened,

"Really pretty, chi! There's big trees and pretty, clear lakes. Every season brings something unique and pretty too, chi!"

Mei closed her eyes and envisioned Mocchi's world and spoke up,

"There sounds really pretty, Mocchi."

"Mei, you're up, chi!" The little blue bird cheerfully said and flew up to Mei. Mei opened her hands and Mocchi flew into it.

Satsuki stretched her hands and then sat up on the couch, "I see you're finally up. It feels good to sleep in sometimes, doesn't it? Good afternoon, Mei."

Mei blushed, "Maybe it did. Is that why you two didn't wake me up?"

Satsuki put on a smirk, "I really just wanted a chance to tease you like you tease me whenever I sleep in. Honestly though, I knew you were tired after all that happened yesterday."

Mei ran through the events of yesterday through her head,

"Yesterday really was something. Is transforming always that tiring, Mocchi?"

"I think it's because you're new at it, chi!"

"I see." Mei sat down on the couch next to Satsuki. Mocchi quickly flew out of the girl's hands and onto the coffee table in front of the two sisters. The small fairy looked up at Mei; she looked deep in thought,

"Mocchi, how are we going to 'complete our mission'? You weren't really clear on that yesterday."

Satsuki then looked towards the fairy, "Yeah. I was wondering that too, what does Mei have to do, exactly?

Mocchi looked from one girl to another and then said in a sad tone, "I… don't really know, chi. I just now that we have to find the fragments of the Gaia Scepter before Typhoon and his minions do. I hope my siblings know more, chi!" Mocchi appeared to be cheerful again upon mentioning her siblings.

Satsuki bit her lip, wondering whether her question would offend the fairy,

"Mocchi, I have a question but please don't take it the wrong way. Why isn't Lady Earthlight doing anything?"

Satsuki was right to hesitate on asking that question because Mocchi then replied in an angry tone,

"It's because if she put herself out in the open then Typhoon could find her and force her to use her powers for destruction, chi! She's weaker than he is right now, Lady Earthlight isn't lazy, chi!"

Mei was startled at Mocchi's sudden anger,

"Calm down, Mocchi. I don't think Satsuki meant it like that."

Satsuki spoke up to defend herself, "Mei's right, I didn't mean it like that but I'm sorry anyway."

Mocchi flapped her wings a little and then apologized, "I'm sorry, I just miss her, chi!"

"Don't worry, Mocchi." Mei calmly said, "I'm going to help you find her after all but how are we going to find those scepter fragments?"

Mocchi was silent for a while, "They'll start to act up and do stuff, chi! It won't be that hard, we just have to wait now, chi!" Mocchi then ate the last gummy that was on a small plate on the coffee table.

Mei clasped her hands together, "I see."

"Well then!" Satsuki said, "Looks like you're free today."

Mei nodded, "Yup!"

Satsuki looked towards Mei, "I wish we could go out together and shop or something but I have work to do again."

"It's okay, I was just planning to re- "

"Mei, chi! Can we go buy more of these gummy things? They're so tasty, chi!" Mocchi interrupted Mei before she could finish. Mei looked towards the blue bird,

"I... um." Mei then looked towards Satsuki,

"Mocchi ate every last one. If you want to go buy some more for her then here's some money." Satsuki reached out for her purse that was on the coffee table and opened it. Cluttering through pieces of scrap paper and empty snack packages Satsuki finally found some money and handed it to Mei,

"I guess you have plans now, right?"

Mei nervously smiled, "I guess."

"Chi!" Mocchi was excited.

Satsuki looked towards Mocchi,

"Mocchi, how are you going to go if you're… well, you're not exactly normal looking, you know that right?

"I'll pretend to be a toy, chi!"

Mei blushed,

"I'm going to be walking around with a stuffed toy?"

Satsuki then laughed,

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure no one will be looking!"

Mei then groaned and stood up from the couch,

"Alright. Come along now, Mocchi." The little fairy then flew up onto Mei's shoulder, "Good luck with your school work." said Mei.

Satsuki nodded, "Be careful."

"I will be." Mei and Mocchi then made their way out of the house.

* * *

The shopping district was bright and vibrant just like the bright sun that shone above it. People were roaming the streets, window-shopping and talking loudly. Mei was making her way through the crowd with Mocchi in her arms, pretending to be a stuffed animal like she said. With such a large crowd around the two of them, Mei figured that no one would notice or pay attention if she started to talk to Mocchi. The brown-haired girl then whispered to the fairy,

"Mocchi, isn't this lazing around a little? I feel like we should be doing something productive, like trying to pinpoint the scepter fragments or finding your siblings."

"Don't worry, chi. We'll come across them eventually, chi!"

"Oh, well alright."

Mei and Mocchi finally arrived at Rainbow Candy, walking up the coloured tiles and into the charmingly quaint shop. The store was crowded but Mei figured that it was like this because it was a Saturday. Mei whispered to Mocchi again,

"You wanted gummies right?"

"Yes, chi!"

Mei spotted some bags of gummies on a shelf at the end of the long line to Mr. Yamada's cashier machine. Making her way towards it, Mei noticed the red-headed girl from yesterday at the back of the line, tapping her feet impatiently. Mei smiled,

"Ms. Hanabi, hi."

"Oh, hey."

Mei eased her way pass Hanabi to reach the gummies and stood behind the red-haired girl, waiting in line. In Hanabi's hand Mei noticed a large handbag that was almost filled with candy. Mei giggled,

"Are you sure that you have enough money for all of that, Ms. Hanabi? I don't have any extra money to spare this time."

"What? Oh, you're talking about yesterday. I do!"

Mei smiled, "Is that all for you or…?

"Some of it, the rest is for this stupid fish fai-… um, for my family." Hanabi quickly corrected herself mid-sentence.

Although Mei thought of it as a normal fluke, Mocchi picked up on it and spoke up,

"A fish fairy? Neene!"

Hanabi looked down towards Mocchi,

"Oh hey, that's a fairy too? Good thing." Hanabi looked up towards Mei, "I thought a girl like you walking around with a stuffed animal was really embarrassing."

Mei was flustered, "Embarassing? I… wait, fairy? You mean you've met one too?"

"Mocchi! An odd looking creature that resembled a fish then popped its head out from underneath the candy in Hanabi's bag.

"Neene, chi! I missed you!" Mocchi then jumped out of Mei's arms into Hanabi's bag and the two fairies danced around with each other. Mei was shocked as she looked at Hanabi's fingers,

"Wait, your finger. You're a Cure too!"

Hanabi looked at Mei's fingers and cheerfully said, "Oh hey, you're one too, awesome!"

Mei looked at the girl, still shocked

"Awesome? What is going on here?"

With the two fairies in the plastic bag idly chattering and Hanabi looking at Mei as if nothing was wrong, Mei was starting to lose her mind,

"How in the world… why is no one paying attention to how shocking this is?"

Hanabi looked at the girl puzzlingly, "What are you freaking out for? Even after meeting a fairy and being asked to save the planet you think that something like _this_ is weird?" Hanabi laughed.

Neene then looked towards the two girls, "Your powers and us fairies must have brought upon these circumstances, ne!"

Mocchi then spoke up, "That's true, chi! Mei, can we go talk somewhere quiet? This is more important than candy!"

Neene looked up towards Hanabi and asked her the same. Hanabi narrowed her eyes at the fish fairy,

"Geez! We were looking forward to coming here all day." She sighed, "Alright, let's go."

The girls took the candy that they picked up and put them back where they found them and left the shop.

Hanabi spoke first when they reentered the bustling shopping district,

"So, where to now?"

Mocchi flew up in front of Mei, "Can we go to a park, Mei?"

Hanabi gasped, "Get down, you clown!"

Mei grabbed at Mocchi and put him into Hanabi's handbag.

"I forgot, chi!" said Mocchi.

"You have to be careful, ne!" Neene scolded Mocchi from inside the large handbag.

Mei furrowed her eyebrows with thought, "I actually know of a quiet park that we can go to."

Hanabi put on a wide smile, "Really? Let's go then! Forward!" the red-headed girl excitedly pointed her finger forward.

"Ms. Hanabi…" Mei nervously laughed, "It's this way." The brown-haired girl pointed her finger in the direction that the park was at.

"Oopsie! Well let's go there then. Forward!" Hanabi then started to jokingly march towards the park.

* * *

The four had just arrived at the park that Mei suggested. It was mostly deserted except for a few children running around on the lush grass. Hanabi spotted a wooden bench with a table that was placed for picnics at the park a little away from the group. Since the bench was a little far from where most of the people were gathered, they decided to sit there. When the girls finally sat down, the fairies jumped out of the bag. With hardly anyone around, they could come out into the open. Mocchi looked around at the park and spoke up,

"Wow! This place is so pretty, chi!"

Neene then retorted,

"It is pretty but not as pretty as the Land of Gaia, ne!"

Hanabi lightly hit the fish fairy,

"Hey! Stop insulting my home!"

Mei giggled and shook her head, "Ms. Hanabi!"

Hanabi sighed, "Stop calling me 'Miss.'"

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Neene jumped around on the table a bit, "Let's get down to business, ne!" he looked towards Mei and Mocchi who was perched on the former's shoulder, "What do you two know! Did you find any scepter fragments yet!"

Hanabi looked towards the two as well, "Yeah! Did you!"

Mei felt put on the spot by the two and blushed, "Um… well… no…"

Mocchi faced Hanabi and Neene and flapped her wings a bit, "We haven't found any and we just know that we have to find the fragments of Earthlight's scepter!"

"I see, ne. Let's just have fun then!"

"Chi!"

The two fairies then flew away from the two girls in hushed chatter.

Hanabi looked towards Mei who was quiet,

"So…"

Mei giggled, "I'm sorry, I've been told that I'm a little shy."

"That's alright! Say, what school do you go to? You don't go to mines, right?"

Mei shook her head, "I go to Harukaze Middle School."

"Hm… that's in the east part of the city right?"

"Yes." Mei nodded.

"I go to Hamasaki Middle School in the south."

"So you live in Hamasaki too?" Mei questioned.

"Yep! Say, do you have a boyfriend?"

Mei blushed, "Wh-what? That's so forward…"

"I guess you don't, huh?" Hanabi put her hand on her forehead as if she was fainting, acting overdramatically, "A pure maiden who doesn't know love… it's like a romance novel!"

Mei was flustered, "I just…"

The girls' conversation was interrupted when they heard children screaming. They looked towards the source of the sound and spotted Mocchi and Neene flying towards them,

Hanabi stood up, "What did you two do!"

"Mei, chi!" Mocchi flew towards Mei.

"Nothing, ne!"

They then said together, "A fragment of the Gaia Scepter's started to act up!"

The girls then looked at each other in shock.

* * *

Meanwhile at Lady Earthlight's former palace, Typhoon and his minions were gathered. The palace was completely dark but the walls gave off a strange and ominous red glow, providing a little light. The three humans stood while Hail spoke to Typhoon,

"So, Cure Snow appeared and then that red orb just disappeared. I don't know where it went!"

Hail stood in fear as she waited for Typhoon to answer her,

"I do not wish to hear anymore."

A new orb was created from some of the strange mist that surrounded the three humans and Hail took it. At this point, the three humans concluded that the mist was simply another form that Typhoon had taken. Hail spoke to Typhoon again, her voice slightly quivering,

"Thank you, Lord Typhoon. I pro-"

"I do not wish to hear anymore."

With that, the strange red mist disappeared. The three stood in complete silence until Thunder spoke up,

"Is he gone?"

Acid sighed, "I assume so. Do you not think that it was rather strange of him to not punish Hail?"

Hail giggled, "A little but I'm happy for that."

The three orbs in the humans' hands then flashed a red light and a small green leaf was visible inside of it. Acid brought the orb closer to his eyes,

"I think that this might be telling us the location of one of the Gaia Scepter's fragments."

Hail eyed her orb more closely as well, "It does look like that."

Thunder then laughed, "I'll go! Stay here, weaklings!"

Thunder disappeared and Acid sighed as he left,

"His arrogance is a little more than irritating sometimes."

Hail yawned, "Whatever, I'm just glad I don't have to do anything. You know, this would be a lot easier if we just lived on Earth. We could be like, undercover. That way we'd be closer to the Gaia Scepter's fragments."

Acid looked at the older woman, "That would make a lot of sense. I'll go organize that."

With Acid disappearing after that, Hail spoke up,

"Nimby?" her voice echoed throughout the empty palace.

"Mommy!"

Nimby then appeared out of thin air, "I missed you, by!

"Shut up, you got me in trouble."

"Mommy, by!" large teardrops then started to emerge from Nimby's eyes and she started crying. Hail sighed,

* * *

"Geez, I'm going to go look for Mr. Akito's house again." Hail then disappeared, leaving a sobbing Nimby alone in the palace.

Back on Earth, Hanabi and Mei were making their way through the park, towards the commotion. The girls stood still as they finally spotted what was happening. A forest was growing at a rapid pace and engulfing the park. Mei and Hanabi looked towards the fairies,

"What's happening?" asked Hanabi.

"Is this the fragment's power?" Mei asked in a panicked voice.

Mocchi answered first, "It is, chi!"

"Transform, ne!"

The girls nodded,

"Pret-" the girls were interrupted by a crack of thunder and a gust of wind that knocked them away from the forming forest,

"Stop right there, that fragment is mines."

Thunder appeared before the four and was ready to fight.

"We don't have time for this!" shouted Hanabi, "Mei, quick!"

The two girls then put their hands on their chest and said,

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!"

Mei transformed into Cure Daisy in a flash of pink light accompanied by the sound of chirping birds while Hanabi transformed into Cure Flare in a flash of red light accompanied by the sound of fireworks.

Cure Daisy struck a pose with her left hand on her hip and her right hand in the air, "Blooming flowers mark the season of spring! Cure Daisy!"

At the same time, Cure Flare put her left hand behind her head and put her right hand out in front of her to make a victory sign, "The shining sun marks the season of Summer! Cure Flare!"

* * *

Flare looked towards Daisy, "Cure Daisy, huh? Awesome! Let's do this!"

Flare jumped high into the air to reach Thunder. She put out her hand to punch him but he dodged and kicked her back down to the ground,

"Ugh!" Flare yelled out in pain.

Neene gasped, "Ne! Don't rush, Flare!"

Daisy ran towards Flare to help her, "Hanabi! Be careful!"

"Who is this guy!"

Daisy realized that Flare never faced Thunder before,

"His name is Thunder, I've fought him once before. He's strong, be careful!"

Flare managed to stand back up and look at Thunder, her eyes were narrowed. She put her hands out to face him,

"Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!" a red light then shot out of the Cure's hand towards Thunder but he managed to deflect it with a barrier of lightning and it hit Cure Daisy instead,

"Ah!" Daisy screamed out in pain.

"Daisy!" Mocchi flew up to Cure Daisy, checking to see if she was alright.

Flare jumped up towards Thunder and tried to punch him again, "Dammit! Stop dodging my attacks!"

Thunder laughed, "You know, we were all weak yesterday, that's why we lost. Don't think that you're as powerful as you think you are."

Thunder punched Flare and she flew back down to the ground. Daisy looked up towards Thunder who pulled out a red orb and raised it to the air, "Dokodar!" he yelled.

What appeared to be a red laser shot out of the orb and hit the nearby growing forest. The forest started to glow red and with a flash of red light a huge monster appeared,

"Dokodar!" the strange creature bellowed in a deep, slow voice. The monster resembled a large oak tree with a monstrous face on its trunk. Thunder then spoke to it,

"Attack them, Dokodar."

"Dokodar!"

The monster stood up on its roots and made its way towards Flare, using its roots as legs.

Flare started screaming as the monster approached her but Cure Daisy ran between the monster and Flare,

"Spring's Leaves!"

Many green leaves then materialized in front of Daisy and became one large leaf. Daisy pushed the enormous leaf towards the monster, knocking it back.

Thunder looked on with curiosity, "Hm?"

"Spring's Leaves!" Daisy summoned the barrier again and looked back towards Flare,

"Are you okay?"

Flare nodded, "Daisy, I'm sorry." The red-headed girl stood up, "I keep rushing in by myself when we're teammates now."

Daisy put on a gentle smile, "Teammates…" she then nodded.

The tree monster grew out a branch and struck the barrier, shattering it.

Flare ran between Daisy and the monster and put her hands out towards it,

"Summer's Fireworks!"

A red ball of light appeared in front of Flare's hands which flashed brightly, blinding the monster.

"Dokodar!" it yelled out in pain.

Mocchi and Neene's voices could be heard from far away, "Daisy, Flare! Combine your powers!"

The two girls looked towards each other and nodded. Flare put out her right hand towards Daisy which Daisy grabbed with her left, they then faced their free hand towards the still blinded monster,

"Precure!" they both shouted. Daisy then spoke, "Springtime!" followed by Flare, "Summertime!" they then said together, "Carnivàle Surprise!"

Daisies that glowed red then shot out of both of their hands towards the Dokodar, upon hitting the monster the flowers grew out vines which trapped the monster. The Dokodar started to thrash about but was unable to break free of its binds, the flowers then exploded as if they were fireworks and in a bright flash the Dokodar disappeared leaving behind a green, crystalized leaf.

Mocchi flew towards the two Cures, "A fragment, chi!"

"It is, ne!" Neene's voice could be heard from behind the girls, "Quick grab it!"

Thunder then laughed, "As if I'd let you." Thunder appeared in front of the leaf and grabbed it, "With this, we're one step closer to fulfilling our mission. Goodbye, Pretty Cure." Thunder then disappeared.

* * *

Cure Flare dropped to her knees and detransformed, "I lost… who was I kidding? I can't save the planet."

Hanabi punched the ground.

Daisy knelt down next to Hanabi and detransformed as well but she remained silent.

"This is so stupid!" Hanabi groaned.

"Hanabi, ne!" Neene flew in front of Hanabi and she grabbed him, taking him into her arms.

"Hanabi, chi! You need to stop saying _I_."

Mei than gently smiled at the red-haired girl, "That's right, we're a team, Hanabi. There are four Cures, we have to work together. We're teammates… and friends now."

Neene then spoke, "The key to Pretty Cure's powers are their bonds with each other!"

Mocchi then cheerfully said, "Yes, chi! Look at how you destroyed that monster when you worked together, chi!"

Hanabi clenched her teeth, "We might have beaten that weak Dokodar but we can't defeat someone like Thunder. You can't force friendship, our bonds aren't strong enough. I can't be friends with a quiet girl like Mei anyways. This is… stupid."

Mei's eyes opened wide, "Hanabi…"

"We're not going to be able to save the planet with a forced friendship. Let's go, Neene."

Hanabi then stood up with Neene and they walked away in silence. Mei stood up and watched the girl as she walked away,

"Hanabi…"

Mocchi then started to sob, "Neene!"

When Neene was a good distance away with Hanabi, he looked up towards the girl, "Are you _really_ just going to walk away? What's wrong with you?"

"I lost, that's what. _We_ lost. You should have planned this instead of just choosing incompatible people to be teammates."

Neene stayed silent, the girl was right.

Mei hadn't moved an inch since Hanabi walked away. The girl was shocked and confused and didn't know what to do. She was only awakened from her stupor when Mocchi flew up to her sobbing,

"Mei!"

The brown-haired girl took the fairy into her arms,

"Mocchi…"

Mei was lost for words but still tried to comfort the fairy, "It will be okay. Hanabi's just shocked because we lost. She'll come around and you'll see Neene again too! L-let's go buy those gummies you wanted, okay?"

"Okay…" the fairy's sobbing calmed down a little.

Mei then looked towards Hanabi, still being able to see the red-headed girl's back in the distance,

"She'll come around…"

* * *

_Next Chapter- Hanabi's Reason for Fighting!_


	7. Hanabi's Reason for Fighting!

Chapter Six – Hanabi's Reason for Fighting!

* * *

Hanabi threw her handbag in the corner of her room with a loud grunt.

"Ne!"

Neene shrieked and jumped out of the large bag as it hit the floor,

"What did you do that for, ne?"

Even though Neene was angry, Hanabi paid no attention to the fairy.

"Ne?"

Still unresponsive, Hanabi simply sighed and laid down on her bed, staring at the roof.

"Hanabi… are you okay, ne?"

In Hanabi's current state of mind she just didn't have time to respond to the fairy. Instead, she was busy thinking about her life. Masaya, a longtime friend of hers wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Instead, he was spending all his time with the head of the art club, Rumi.

"Hanabi, ne!"

Neene jumped onto the girl's chest, breaking her out of her trancelike state,

"Are you okay, ne!" Neene had a worried look on his face.

"Yes, I'm okay… now get _off_." Hanabi softly pushed the fairy off of her body.

"What's the matter, ne?"

Hanabi just sighed again; she was embarrassed about how she felt. The girl knew that she was known for a jokester more than anything else. Could Masaya have befriended Rumi because she was more interesting than Hanabi? That was the question that possessed the teen. Hanabi turned onto her side and closed her eyes,

"Am I talented at _anything_?" she whispered to herself.

Neene silently watched the girl; he could tell that she was still bothered by their loss to Thunder. Deciding to leave her in peace, he went under Hanabi's bed and set himself up to sleep.

* * *

"Is that so? Well, Mei… I'm not sure what to say."

"Me either, I just left her alone." Mei looked down as she spoke, she was explaining to Satsuki what had happened with Hanabi. The three were in Satsuki's bedroom where the older female was lying down on her bed, back against the bed's headboard.

Mei sighed as she spoke, "I thought that we would all get along too."

"Don't worry Mei, chi! She'll come around, you said it yourself, chi!" Mocchi cheerfully said, trying her best to brighten the atmosphere. Mei nodded, "You're right, Mocchi."

Satsuki shook her head,

"Thinking like that is nice but you can't expect everything to go that well. This Hanabi girl is a little right."

Mei nodded, "I know but… I want to be hopeful, you know?"

Satsuki clicked her tongue and gave Mei a shrug before reaching for a book on the bedside table. Realizing her sister has work to do, Mei decided to go to bed,

"Satsuki, we're going to bed, good night! Come along, Mocchi."

"Good night!" Satsuki replied as Mei walked out of her bedroom.

"Wait for me, chi!" Mocchi quickly flew onto to the brown-haired girl's shoulder as she walked towards her bedroom.

Mei sighed as she entered her room, "I hope Satsuki doesn't stay up too late."

"I hope she remembers to make us breakfast, chi!"

Mei smiled, "If she doesn't, I will. Good night, Mocchi."

"Good night, chi!"

Mei made her way to her bed while Mocchi flew onto a small bed prepared by Satsuki to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, Typhoon's minions were once again gathered in the Gaia Palace. Although Typhoon himself was not present, his minions were ecstatic over Thunder's victory.

"Bravo, bravo!"

Hail and Nimby were excitedly praising Thunder.

Thunder bowed while Acid rolled his eyes,

"This praising is silly and a horrible thing for his huge ego, 'good job' is all he needs to hear." The boy's agitation was evident in his tone.

Thunder glared at the younger boy, "You're just _jealous_."

Acid rolled his eyes again, "Can we just stop this stupidity for a second? I have something I want to show you all."

"What is it?" Hail questioned.

"I found a place for us to stay in the human world." Acid answered.

"The human world? Such a place is not worthy for the likes of us." Thunder shouted.

"I want my own bed, by!" Nimby said.

Thunder eyed Nimby, "Why did you make this thing, Hail?"

Hail took up a defensive stance, "It was an accident!"

Acid shook his head and sighed, "Teleportation between worlds weakens us. Just look at how we allowed Pretty Cure to be born. A base on Earth is a good idea."

"It'll be like we're a family. We'll be so cute together, everyone!" exclaimed Hail, dancing around the almost empty palace. The woman's high heels echoed throughout the large palace.

Acid groaned, "Just follow me…"

* * *

"Hanabi, ne! Wake up!"

Hanabi groaned and pulled her red sheets above her head.

"Wake up, ne! How long are you going to sleep?"

Hanabi groaned, "You're the worst roommate ever, Neene. Leave me alone…"

"What about that '_homework_' thing you told me about yesterday, ne!"

Hanabi gasped and shot out of her bed, "My homework! I have to finish it! I don't want that annoying teacher to call mom and dad again!"

Hanabi rushed to her bag in the corner of the room. Almost tearing open her bag, Hanabi grabbed at her books,

"I think these are all my books right here…"

Hanabi took her books to the nearby desk and set her work down on the wooden surface. Neene floated towards the girl out of curiosity. Hanabi clapped her hands together,

"_Alright_! I promise not to leave this desk until I'm done!" the excited girl opened her notebook and stared at it. Neene's eyes repeatedly moved from the girl and to the book, waiting for her to do something. Deciding to break the silence and wondering why Hanabi wasn't doing anything, the fairy spoke up,

"What's wrong, ne?"

"I don't understand… _anything_…" Hanabi whined, "Do you?"

"I don't know how to read, ne." Neene casually replied.

Hanabi groaned, "You're helpless. I'm going to go ask my brother for help, you stay here." The girl then grabbed her books and made her way out of her room.

* * *

"Bro?" Hanabi knocked on her older brother's door, "Are you in there?"

"Yeah, come in."

Hanabi slowly opened the door and peered in, "I need some help with some schoolwork."

Hanabi's brother was seated at his desk, working on his own schoolwork,

"Come on in then, I'll help you."

"Thanks, Hikaru."

While walking towards her brother Hanabi looked around his room. Hikaru's room was completely clean and everything was well-organized, from the books in the many bookshelves to the clothes in the boy's wardrobe. Hikaru's room was almost like an oasis of cleanliness compared to Hanabi's room.

"So, what do you need help with?"

Hanabi showed her notebook to her brother,

"Just this?" he asked, "This is so simple Hanabi, listen…" the red-haired boy went on explaining to Hanabi the problems in her book.

"Wow, that was so simple." Hanabi said, "I guess you're good for something after all, Hikaru!"

Hikaru groaned while Hanabi laughed,

"But… thanks. You're really smart." Hanabi looked away from her brother while she spoke, she felt weird complimenting him.

The boy nervously rustled his dark-red hair and laughed, "Not always. Just look at this."

"Huh?"

Hikaru reached down into his bookbag and showed Hanabi a test paper that he had gotten. The paper had a large "F" in red ink on it.

"_An 'F'_? But how?"

Hikaru laughed, "Everyone can mess up and do badly sometimes."

Hanabi was shocked, "Why are you laughing? Did mom and dad see this?"

Hikaru shrugged, "Bad grades don't really bother me and I doubt it bothers them. I like to see a bad grade as a lesson learned."

Hanabi was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Like… it teaches me to try even harder next time. You learn something new no matter if you pass or fail. Remembering that has helped me a lot of times. Besi-" Hikaru stopped as he noticed that Hanabi had apparently zoned out. The girl had a blank stare on her face.

"Uh… Hanabi?" he tried to get the girl's attention. Hanabi suddenly gasped, startling the boy and making him jump,

"I understand now." Said the girl, "Try my best next time, huh? Wait, Mei!"

Hikaru was now confused, "Huh?"

"Mei… I have to go find her and apologize!" Hanabi ran out of Hikaru's room,

"Wait, Hanabi! Your books!"

Hanabi knew that her homework was important but she had to apologize to Mei first. The girl ignored her brother for the time being and quickly made her way to her room,

"Neene!"

"Huh… hm?" Neene was incoherently answering as he lay half-awake on Hanabi's bed.

"Wake up! Wake up! We have to find Mei!" Hanabi shook the fairy.

"…Mei? You mean you want to work with her again?" Neene became energetic again, "Finally, ne!"

"Can you tell me where Mei and Mocchi are? You can sense them can't you?"

"Why do that, ne? Mocchi told me where they lived, ne!"

"Come on, let's go then!" Hanabi was frantic.

The two were about to head out the door when Hanabi remembered that they had to hide Neene, "Hey! You have to go into my handbag!" exclaimed Hanabi.

Neene groaned when he realized that he'd have to hide in Hanabi's smelly handbag again.

* * *

While Hanabi and Neene were heading to Mei's house, Thunder, Hail, Acid and Nimby's were in their new base. Although they referred to it as a base, it was simply a normal four bedroom suburban home that Acid had created using his inventions. The four sat at the dinner table thinking up a name for the house, Acid however, was an unwilling participant,

"I say we call it 'The House of the Terrific Three'" suggested Hail.

"What about me, by!" Nimby pouted.

"I say we call it the Meteor House!" suggested Thunder.

Acid groaned, "At least that one isn't embarrassing…"

"How about the Fabulo-"

Hail's suggestion was cut off when the red orbs that the minions possessed flashed a red light; a fragment of Earthlight's scepter was about to react with the environment.

The four quickly focused their attention on the orbs.

"How are we going to go about this?" asked Acid, "Who's going to go?"

"I'll go." announced Thunder, "I took the fragment last time and I'll be able to do it again this time."

Hail stretched her arms, "Well, I'm going to bed then."

Thunder then stood up and left the house.

* * *

At Mei's house, the doorbell was ringing.

"Who is that?" Mei thought to herself. She walked towards the door and opened it. To Mei's surprise, it was Hanabi.

"Hanabi? What are you doing here?"

"Mei… I uh, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday."

"Apologize? Oh! It's okay, you don't know me that well and yo-"

"No. It's not that. I should have realized that you were trying your best and I just got so angry over losing that I…"

"It's my fault, I should hav-"

"Listen! I'm sorry." Hanabi finished.

"Who is that?" a woman's voice came from inside the house, a young woman then walked up next to Mei, staring at Hanabi,

"Who are you?"

Mei shoved the older woman, "Don't be so rude!"

"Wow!"

The two brown-haired girls looked towards Hanabi, confused by her sudden outburst.

"Mei, your mother is so pretty!" said Hanabi.

The older woman laughed, "Oh no, I'm her sister, Satsuki. Our parents work abroad but thanks for the compliment."

"Oh." Hanabi averted her eyes from the two sisters, embarrassed at her confusion but Mei simply giggled at the girl's blunder. Mei was about to invite Hanabi inside when she was interrupted by Neene, Hanabi's fairy,

"Hanabi!" Neene's head popped out of Hanabi's handbag.

Hanabi gasped; she was shocked that Neene would present himself in front of a human, "Get back in there!" she pushed the fairy's head back down into the bag.

"Mei, chi!" Mocchi flew up next to Mei, "A fragment is acting up!"

Hanabi was shocked that Satsuki looked so calm with two talking creatures in her presence,

"…Wait a minute" she asked, "You know about Pretty Cure?" she questioned Satsuki.

"Of course I do. Mei saved me as Cure Daisy and she even told me about you."

"Wow." said Hanabi, "That's so cool."

"Oh, girls!" Satsuki spoke up, "If a fragment is causing trouble again, do you want me to drive you all to it?"

Mei looked at Satsuki, "Drive us? That's so embarra-"

"Yes!" shouted Hanabi, "I hate walking."

"Me too, ne!" Neene popped his head out of Hanabi's handbag once more.

Hanabi looked down at Neene, "But you don't walk…"

Satsuki laughed at Hanabi and Neene, "I like you two!" she remarked.

Mei couldn't believe what was going on, "This is so odd, are you guys serious? You're going to drive us to fight evil?"

"Of course!" said Satsuki, "What's wrong with dropping off my superhero sister and her friend? Let me just go get the car keys."

As Satsuki left, Hanabi registered what Satsuki had said, "Her friend." Was she friends with Mei now? Hanabi nervously spoke up,

"F-friend?" the red-haired girl looked towards Mei.

Mei smiled and nodded, "Friend!"

* * *

Satsuki ended up driving the girls to Lake Hamasaki in Hanabi's neighbourhood. The five were gathered in the deserted car park nearby the docks, staring at a large whirlpool in the lake. Just like the last time a scepter fragment acted up, the sky was an ominous dark gray colour.

"A whirlpool?" asked Mei, staring out into the lake.

"Anything that's not manmade or an animal can be affected by a scepter's fragment, ne!" explained Neene.

"It's so scary, chi…" Mocchi was shaking with fear as she lay perched on Mei's shoulder.

"We better stay in the car." Satsuki looked at Mocchi and Neene as she spoke.

"Yeah." said Hanabi, "You guys stay here and we'll deal with this!"

"Be careful." The two girls could barely hear Satsuki's voice as they walked towards the dock. The whirlpool made a loud sucking noise as it churned away. As the two walked on the wooden docks, their shoes knocking against the hard wood, Mei spoke up,

"Where is everyone?"

"They probably got scared and ran off." answered Hanabi, "Hey! Look at that blue light!" Hanabi pointed towards the whirlpool.

"That's most likely the fragment" said Mei.

The two girls looked at each other,

"Ready?" asked Mei.

"Ready." answered Hanabi.

The two girls put their hands on their chest and their rings began to glow. Mei's ring emitted a pink light while Hanabi's shone a red light.

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!"

In flashes of light, Mei became Cure Daisy and Hanabi became Cure Flare.

"Let's try our best." said Daisy.

Flare nodded, "How are we going to reach the fragment though?"

"I noticed that you can jump really high." answered Daisy, "Do you think that you can make your way towards the whirlpool?"

"Yeah but, I'll get sucked in…"

"I can make barriers…" Daisy then jumped in excitement after a few seconds, "I think I have an idea!"

"What is it?" Flare asked.

A flash of lightening then lit up the dark sky. An almost deafening crack of thunder rang inside the two girls' ears shortly after,

"Yes, Daisy…" the two girls then looked up and spotted Thunder before them, "What is it?"

"Oh, dammit!" Flare rolled her eyes, "Not you again!"

"I don't have time for you two." Thunder scowled, "I came for the fragment piece."

The muscular man then made his way into the lake, towards the whirlpool.

"Is he just going to go into the whirlpool and take it?" asked Daisy, "We have to act fast, Flare!"

Daisy put her hands out in front of her, "Spring's Leaves!" a torrent of leaves appeared and formed a single, large one in front of the girl. Daisy motioned her hands and made the leaf fall flat on the ground,

"Get on, quickly!"

Cure Flare stepped on, "This is pretty cool and all but if I fall off…"

Daisy motioned her hands and the leaf began to move, towards the whirlpool.

"Woah!" exclaimed Flare. The Cure whooshed past Thunder who was allowing himself to be sucked into the whirlpool.

"What is he trying to do?" Daisy quietly asked herself.

"Ha, idiot!" Flare stuck out her tongue at Thunder as she whizzed past him, "Can't you fly?"

Thunder growled and put his hands up in the air, "Thunder!"

"Summer's Fireworks!" yelled Flare, she targeted the man with her attack and he was blinded by flashes of red light that burst forth from the girl's hands. The red-haired girl had successfully manged to interrupt his attack.

Nearing the whirlpool, Flare could see the blue glow of the scepter fragment and shortly after, spotted the blue, crystalized blue leaf at the center.

"I can see the fragment, Daisy!" yelled Flare. Flare targeted the leaf with her hands, "Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!"

The girl's attack hit the fragment and it flew high out of the water, the whirlpool disappeared almost instantly. Daisy motioned her hands upwards so that Flare would rise up along with the leaf and be able to reach the fragment. As Flare moved closer towards the fragment, she put her hands out. Finally managing to grab it, Flare gave out a loud, "Yes!"

"Flare!" Daisy's voice broke the girl out of her stupor, "Look out!"

Thunder jumped up and managed to grab onto the leaf that Flare stood on. The girl fell down from the leaf down into the cold ocean but Flare managed to drag him down with her.

"Flare!" Daisy shouted out, the pink-haired girl could see nothing because of how far away she was.

"Mei!" Daisy turned around and noticed Satsuki along with Mocchi and Neene heading towards her, "No!" Daisy shouted, "Stay back!"

Daisy motioned her hands so the leaf would return to her and she rode on it out to the spot where Flare fell,

"Flare?" she called out.

Daisy then noticed red flashes of light in the spot directly below her. The girl just barely moved out of the way when Thunder appeared to be almost spat out of the water. Flare then followed the man though she appeared to willingly leap out of it. By use of her powers, the girl was moving upwards faster than Thunder. Now a considerable amount of distance above the man, Flare put her feet down and zoomed down towards him, kicking him back down towards the water. Thunder however, managed to catch himself before hitting the water and hovered a little above it. The man was gasping for breath,

"How did you get so strong!" he asked Flare.

"It's because I learned from my mistakes from last time!" answered Flare. The girl was falling at such a small pace that she appeared to be hovering mid-air to Daisy. Flare put her hands out towards Thunder, "Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!"

Daisy quickly put her hands out towards the man too, "Precure! Springtime Surprise!"

The two attacks missed as the man jumped backed from them.

"It doesn't matter anyway…" Thunder chuckled, "I still have this." The man then held up the blue fragment piece which was responsible for the whirlpool formation.

"No!" yelled Daisy. The girl controlled the leaf that she was on so that she moved closer towards Thunder but she was too late, he had disappeared with another piece of the fragment.

* * *

"We lost…" Daisy sighed and de-transformed as she walked up to Satsuki and the fairies.

Satsuki opened her arms to hug her sister, "Mei…"

Mei walked into her sister's arms and wrapped her arms around her back, hugging her.

"We lost? Oh, really?" Flare chuckled.

"Huh?" Mei and the others turned their attention to Flare who was holding up a green crystalized leaf.

"But… how?" Mei was confused.

Flare laughed and de-transformed, "That guy's an idiot. While we were underwater this fell out of his _pocket_! Why would you even keep it there?"

"Hanabi!" Mei ran up to Hanabi,

Hanabi laughed, "We're even now. They have one and we have one!"

"You're amazing!" Mei hugged Hanabi, startling the girl,

"Hey." Hanabi asked, "What are you doing!" Hanabi blushed, unaccustomed to being hugged.

Satsuki giggled and looked towards Mocchi who was dancing with Neene in celebration of their victory.

Hanabi closed her eyes,

"I did it..."

Mei pulled away from the red-haired girl, "I hope that by working together that we can find the rest."

Hanabi nodded, "All we can do is improve. We shouldn't look back on our losses. I learned that I can basically fly today, didn't I?"

Mei smiled, "Right!"

"Hanabi, ne!" Neene floated towards the two girls, "Good job but what about that '_homework thing_' that you have to finish?"

"Oh no, Neene!" Hanabi groaned, "Why did you have to remind me? I was savouring our victory…"

* * *

_Next Chapter – Konoha Middle School's Star Pupil!_

_A/N: I totally wrote this chapter up and forgot to upload it. Sorry about that. _

_I hope this makes up for Hanabi's lackluster introduction chapter. I normally hate when people beg for reviews but how is everyone enjoying the story? What are your criticisms? Who is your favorite character? I'd like to improve and satisfy some of my curiosity. Thanks for reading!_


	8. Konoha Middle School's Star Pupil!

Chapter Seven – _Konoha Middle School's Star Pupil! Our Identities Are Revealed!_

* * *

Mei bit her lip and tapped her feet as she sat, she was as nervous as one could be. Class had just ended and her friend, Natsuki, was walking towards her. When Natsuki had arrived during class, Mei had breathed a sigh of relief; her friend being late gave her time to calm herself down. Even with time to calm down though, Mei still wasn't ready for Natsuki's inevitable question. Mei knew that Natsuki was, without a doubt, going to ask her about her weekend.

"Hi, Mei!" Mei's entire body tensed up; Natsuki had finally reached her, "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm okay…" Mei timidly replied, "W-what about you?"

"Are you okay? You're sweating." Natsuki put her hand on Mei's forehead, "You don't seem to have a fever…" she said.

"I'm okay, I'm just nervous."

Mei had no idea what to do, she couldn't tell Natsuki about Pretty Cure but at the same time, she didn't like to lie.

"Nervous?" Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Pulling her hand away from Mei's forehead the girl inquired more from Mei, "About what?" she asked.

"Uh…" Mei looked around the classroom, spotting a poster for the school's talent show on the wall, Mei had found an answer for Natsuki, "The talent show!" she yelped.

"The talent show? What for? Are you taking part in it?" Natsuki didn't know what was going on.

"No… it's just that there's this student from another school who's going to perform at it and I heard that she's really good." Mei mentally gave herself a pat on the back for that save, it wasn't the best reason for being nervous but it was still better than nothing.

"Oh… okay." Natsuki spoke hesitantly, "So, uh, how was your weekend?" she asked.

Mei jumped at the question and her knees hit the wooden table with a bang, "Fine!" she squeaked.

"Mei, you're acting really strange."

"I know, I'm sorry."

Natsuki shrugged, "Don't worry about it. So, you're going to the talent show after school?"

"Yes, I think that it might be fun."

Natsuki put her hand on her chin and looked up as if in thought,

"I should probably buy a ticket then. Do you want to come with me?" she asked.

"Sure." Mei nodded and thought about the exchange so far, her weekend _was_ fine and going to the talent show really might be fun, right? She wasn't exactly _lying_, at that thought, Mei didn't feel so bad anymore.

* * *

At Konoha Middle School, Ms. Sakamoto was addressing her music class,

"That's it for class today, everyone. Remember that Momoji here will be a guest act at Harukaze Middle School's talent show later today."

The class began to applaud as Momoji rose up from her seat and walked towards the front of the class, "Thank you everyone." she began. Momoji spoke in a calm, polite voice, "I'll do my best to represent our school and showcase Ms. Sakamoto's wonderful teaching ability." the girl gestured towards Ms. Sakamoto as she finished.

"Oh, Momoji!" Ms. Sakamoto blushed, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." she replied.

Ms. Sakamoto then began to gather her things, "I hope you all show up and show Momoji some support. Goodbye for now."

Momoji started to walk to her seat as the teacher left the classroom but was interrupted by a cluster of students and loud voices. The tall girl closed her eyes and smiled.

"Wow, Momoji. A guest act?" came a student's voice, "It's like you're famous!"

"You're so talented." came another.

The compliments bombarded her one after the other and were beginning to overwhelm the girl. Although Momoji was thanking the students, what she really wanted to do was excuse herself and leave. Before Momoji could speak though, she felt someone grab at her hand. Amongst the noise, a male somehow managed to raise his voice over it and yell out,

"Everyone back off, Momoji has to practice!"

Momoji looked to her side and then noticed that it was Akito; she smiled. The crowd around the pair of friends all threw the frail boy a nasty glare but they eventually moved away. As the amount of students dwindled, Momoji started to giggle,

"That was rather out of character for you."

Akito blushed, "I just wanted them to leave. I don't know how you never just blow up seeing as how you're always dealing with that kind of stuff."

"Sometimes I just tune it out."

"I see. Anyways, are you ready for that performance later on?" the boy asked.

"At Harukaze? Yes, I have a good feeling about today. You'll come with me, right?"

Akito's face lit up, "Yeah, of course!"

"Good!" Momoji smiled.

Back at Harukaze Middle School, Mei and Natsuki were talking in their class. The two had just bought tickets for the talent show.

"So who is this third ticket for, Mei?" asked Natsuki.

"It's for a friend of mines. Her name's Hanabi. I met her over the weekend." replied Mei.

"Hanabi? You're friends with a girl with a name like that?"

Mei laughed, "Yes. She's nice… although we did get into what I think was a fight already."

"Meeting her should be interesting then." said Natsuki.

"I should call and invite her already."

"You mean she doesn't even know about the show?"

"No, but I think that she would like to come." Mei then began to think to herself, _"I hope she can make it. Mocchi, Neene and even Satsuki told us that we should stick together whenever possible." _Mei then spoke aloud, "Natsuki, I'm going to go call her. Wait here."

"Okay."

Mei stood up and headed for the girls' washroom.

Closing the door to the washroom and breathing a sigh of relief that it was empty, Mei pulled out her cellphone and dialed Hanabi's number,

"_I hope she isn't in class..." _she thought.

Mei looked in the mirror and toyed with her brown hair as the phone dialed,

"Hey Mei!" answered Hanabi.

"Hanabi, hi. I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Na, it's okay." she replied.

"Um… remember how Mocchi and Neene said that we should stick together? You see, there's this talent show today an-"

"And you want me to come?" Hanabi was quiet for a while, "Okay, sure. It's not like I have anything better to do anyways."

"'Anything better to do'? Hanabi, this is important!" Mei's voice had a scolding tone.

"I know, I know. Anyways, my teacher just spotted me so I have to go. See ya!"

The call quickly cut out with a click.

Mei shook her head, "Hanabi…"

* * *

Momoji's eyes narrowed as she looked out the window of her class. She had just noticed the dark, cloudy sky and was worried. Turning to her right, she whispered to Akito,

"Hey, Akito?"

"Huh? What is it, Momoji?" he asked.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were coming with me to the talent show."

"I am." Akito nodded. The worry in Momoji's voice was evident but he didn't want to ask her what was wrong, he already knew what she was worried about.

Momoji eyed the clock at the front of the class, school was almost over and she would have to go to Harukaze soon. She was ready for the performance but she just had a bad feeling about today. Purin had told her to look out for Typhoon and she was cautious for the entire weekend but nothing had happened. Would today be different or would things remain calm? Lost in her thoughts, she was only interrupted by the sounding of the school's bell.

"Alright, Momoji." Akito stood up from his seat, ready to leave already.

"Huh?" Momoji looked towards her friend, "What?"

"Do we have to rush over to Harukaze or is Ms. Sakamoto dropping you?" he asked.

"I turned down Ms. Sakamoto's offer. I think that walking there together would be more fun!"

Akito blushed and looked away before the girl could notice, "M-more fun? O-okay. L-let's go."

* * *

Natsuki paced around in circle's at Harukaze Middle School's front gates, "Where is this friend of yours?" she asked Mei.

"I don't know. School only finished a while ago, she'll take a while." she replied.

Mei's cellphone vibrated in her pocket with a loud buzz,

"Maybe that's her!" she exclaimed, she took out her cellphone and answered it, "Hello?"

"Hey Mei." answered Hanabi, "I'm _kinda_ running late. You can go ahead without me. I'll call you when I reach."

"Okay. Goodb-" Mei sighed as she heard the call cut out, Hanabi had hung up without saying goodbye, "She said that she's going to be late. We should go find a seat."

Natsuki stretched her arms, "Okay, we don't want to get bad seats after all."

"Are these talent shows really that popular?" asked Mei.

"I don't know but remember that students from that other school might come to cheer on that Momoji girl." replied Natsuki.

"That's true. Hey, isn't that Momoji right there?" Mei pointed towards a tall, brown-haired girl walking in front of them. The girl's uniform didn't match their school's white and cream color-scheme, instead, she wore green and brown.

"She's wearing Konoha's uniform, it probably is her." said Natsuki.

Mei sped up her walking to catch up with the girl,"Excuse me." she said.

"Hm?" the girl turned around to face Mei, "Oh, hello!"

"Hi. Are you Ms. Kano by chance?"

"Yes." Momoji smiled,

Natsuki then caught up with Mei and stood next to her, "Uh, hi Momoji. I can't wait to hear your performance."

"Thank you." she replied.

"Hey, Momoji." A dark-haired boy had walked up next to Momoji, "Shouldn't we be going?" he asked her.

"Akito, I'm in the presence of fans!"

"It is a little late." said Natsuki.

"For you, at least." corrected Mei, "Won't you need extra time to get ready to perform?"

Momoji gasped, "You're right." she turned to the boy next to her, "Akito, why didn't you tell me anything?" Momoji grabbed the boy's hand.

"B-but I did…" he blurted out.

Momoji shook her head and faced Mei and Natsuki, "It was a pleasure to meet you two and I'm sorry that I have to leave so soon. Goodbye!"

Momoji and Akito then hurriedly walked towards the school building.

"They're kind of odd." said Natsuki.

"I think she seems like a nice person." said Mei.

Natsuki shrugged, "Let's just hurry up and get to the auditorium."

When Mei and Natsuki arrived at the auditorium it was crowded despite the two reaching early.

"Oh no." said Mei, "It's so crowded. We have to find three seats too."

"I know." replied Natsuki, "Are those seats over there okay?" she pointed towards some seats in the back of the auditorium.

"They're so far away. Would we be able to see anything?" asked Mei.

Natsuki shrugged, "We don't have any other options."

Mei looked down in sorrow, "Well… okay."

* * *

"You're an idiot, Thunder!" shouted Hail and Acid.

Thunder had just explained to his allies how he had lost one of the pieces of the Gaia Scepter.

"Hey, back off!" Thunder shook his fist in anger, "I don't know how it happened." he sighed and sunk to the floor, "I never imagined that my pride would be shattered this." he cried.

"Did you drop it, by?" asked Nimby, "Nimby drops all his things all the time, by!"

"I don't know." replied Thunder, "One of the Cures must have taken it from me. Daisy and Flare have started working together."

"Wait." began Acid, "They've teamed up? This is bad."

Hail gasped, "Say, we should really stop them from teaming up, huh? I think I can take on the one I fought. I think I'll go do that now!" she excitedly declared. Hail then abruptly spun around from the trio and left the Meteor House.

"Mommy!" Nimby called after her, but she had already left.

"What's her problem?" asked Thunder.

Already a good distance away from the house, Hail thought to herself,

"_If I can track down that Momoji then I'll be able to find Mr. Akito!"_

Hail opened the palm of her hand and formed an ice cube with her powers.

"I might be able to make a Dokodar out of this. I'll let it pinpoint that Cure's power so I can find her."

Hail smiled as she took out the red orb that Typhoon had given her, she put the ice cube on the ground and pointed the red orb at it,

"Dokodar!" she yelled out.

The red orb shot out a red light that hit the cube of ice. The ice cube quickly grew in size and gained red, nightmarish eyes.

"Dokodar!" it shouted.

"Perfect!" she laughed, "I bet Thunder and Acid never thought of creating a Dokodar out of something like this." Hail then pointed at the Dokodar, "Listen Dokodar, find Cure Maple." she ordered.

* * *

Back at Harukaze Middle School's auditorium, the talent show had already started and students were performing their acts one after the other.

"This is kind of boring." said Natsuki.

"Boring?" asked Mei, "I think it's exciting. That student who did the magic act was amazing!" she exclaimed. Mei then took out her cellphone and checked the time, "Hanabi hasn't called or texted me yet."

"Do you think she's still coming?" asked Natsuki, "Although, it's not as if she's missing much."

Mei laughed, "You're mean, Natsuki. I'm going to go outside and try calling her again."

"Okay."

Outside the auditorium, Mei called Hanabi who answered quickly,

"Hey, Mei! I was just about to call you. I'm outside right now."

"Really? I'll meet you outside then."

Standing at the entrance to the school, Mei looked up and noticed how dark the sky was and her face drooped in sorrow.

"Are you okay?" came a voice.

Mei looked towards the source and gasped, "Hanabi! Hi!"

"Heya! I know that I'm really late; I got in trouble for trying to sneak out of school."

"Sneak out?

"Well..." began Hanabi.

"Dokodar!"

A loud, deep voice pierced the girls' ears and they spun around in shock,

"A Dokodar?" they said in unison. The pair was looking at a mint green-haired woman in purple seated on top of what appeared to be a giant ice cube.

Hanabi quietly laughed, "Is that an _ice cube_?"

"Hello, ladies." the woman spoke in a seductive voice, "Would you two happen to know a girl named Momoji?"

"Momoji? Why?" asked Mei.

"She's kidnapped the person I'm in love with!" the woman struck a dramatic pose with a voice to match, "I must get him back! So please, help me!"

Hanabi looked towards Mei with a skeptical look, "Who's Momoji and who is this woman?"

The strange woman scoffed, "I am Hail, minion of Typhoon! Now out of my way! I have no time for you two."

The woman pointed towards the direction of the school and rode the Dokodar past the two girls.

"Oh no!" cried Mei, "She's heading into the school!"

Hanabi groaned, "Why'd this have to happen _now_?"

* * *

Backstage at the auditorium, Momoji stood talking with Akito,

"Are you nervous, Momoji?" he asked.

"Not really. You're here with me." she smiled, "You always calm my nerves, Akito."

Akito blushed and looked away, "Momoji… stop it."

"Stop what?" she asked.

Before Akito could answer the pair of friends heard a loud crash and screaming from behind the stage curtain. The two peered out into the audience and witnessed the entire audience frozen in ice. Above the auditorium hovered Hail and a Dokodar. The Dokodar was in the process of blowing on, and freezing the rest of the room.

"N-not her again!" whispered Akito, "This is bad, Momoji!"

"I know, I have to do something." Momoji was about to transform before she noticed the students that were backstage with them, "I have to go somewhere to transform…" she said.

Hail hovered around the frozen audience as if looking for something, "Akito, Momoji, where are you?" she sang.

Akito groaned, "W-why is she looking for me?"

Momoji put her hand on Akito's shoulder, "Akito, I'm going now."

"Be careful." he replied.

Momoji stepped out from behind the curtain and looked up at where Hail hovered,

"Hail, I'm here!" she announced.

Hail laughed upon spotting the girl, "Oh, Momoji! There you are. Tell me, where's Akito?" she asked.

Momoji took a deep breath and replied with a defiant voice, "I'm not telling you!"

Hail grinded her teeth in anger, "Dokodar, attack her!"

"Dokodar!" yelled out the monster, it shot out a white beam towards Momoji who quickly jumped off the stage to avoid it. Instead of hitting Momoji, the beam hit the stage which quickly froze.

"No!" yelled out Momoji, "_Akito…_" she thought to herself.

"Stop right there!" two voices then echoed throughout the auditorium.

"Huh?" Both Momoji and Hail looked around and spotted a pair of girls at the auditorium's entrance.

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" in a flash of light the two girls transformed. One of the girls spoke out,

"Blooming flowers mark the season of spring, Cure Daisy!"

The other girl then spoke out,

"The shining sun marks the season of summer, Cure Flare!"

Momoji looked on in shock, "Other Cures?" she whispered to herself, "That girl from earlier… is a Cure?"

Hail whined, "I don't have time for this. I just wanted to see Mr. Akito!" the woman then looked at Momoji and glared, "Until next time, Momoji." Hail looked down and spoke to the Dokodar, "Dokodar, you know what to do." she then disappeared.

Daisy walked forward and looked into the crowd, she gasped when she noticed Momoji, "Momoji saw us transform." she whispered. Daisy looked at the area where she and Natsuki were sitting and spotted her friend, frozen, "Natsuki!" she yelled, "Flare! She's frozen!"

"It's okay." said Flare, "We'll beat the Dokodar and turn everyone back to normal."

Momoji gasped, Daisy's concern for Natsuki reminded her of Akito. The brown-haired girl ran backstage to check on her friend. Momoji's eyes opened wide with shock upon seeing her friend,

"No!" she yelled out. Akito stood frozen along with several other students. Momoji's legs gave out and she dropped down to the floor.

* * *

"A scream?" asked Daisy, "I wonder if that girl's safe?"

Flare jumped high into the air and landed on top of the Dokodar, "You go check on her, I'll deal with this thing."

Daisy nodded and headed towards the stage. Carefully walking across the frozen stage, Daisy made her way backstage and spotted a crying Momoji.

"Momoji, are you okay?" she asked.

Momoji looked up towards Daisy, eyes red and cheeks puffed, "Akito's frozen." she sobbed.

Daisy walked up to Momoji and hugged her,

"It's okay. Cure Flare and I will turn him back to normal. J-just stay strong."

Daisy herself was close to tears, remembering Natsuki.

Momoji wiped her eyes, "Thank you. I want to stay here with him."

Daisy nodded and then went back to the auditorium to help Flare.

"Ha!" Flare punched the Dokodar and cracked it, breaking off pieces of its body.

"Flare!" yelled out Daisy, "Momoji's fine. She wants her friend saved. Let's do this quickly." she said.

Daisy put her hands out in front of her,

"Spring's Vines, Entangle!

Daisy's hands shone with a pink light and green vines emerged from it which grew at a tremendous pace. The vines grew until it reached the Dokodar where they wrapped around it, restricting its movement.

Flare jumped off the Dokodar to allow Daisy to finish tying it up. Hovering above the Dokodar, Flare looked down at Daisy's handiwork,

"Daisy!" she exclaimed, "That's amazing." she slowly descended from the air and stood next to ally.

Daisy spoke in a confident voice,

"I think that should be enough, let's finish this."

Flare looked at her fellow Cure, "Daisy, are you okay?"

Daisy nervously laughed, "Natsuki's in trouble and so is Momoji's friend. I'm just a little worked up."

Flare smiled, "Let's end this now, then." she then put out her left hand.

Daisy put out her right hand and grabbed Flare's. The two girls put out their joined hands in the direction of the Dokodar.

"Dokodar!" the monster yelled out, struggling against the Daisy's binds.

The girls took a deep breath, "Precure!" they yelled out together. Daisy then spoke alone, calling upon her powers, "Springtime!" followed by Flare, calling upon her own powers, "Summertime!" the girls' hands glowed pink and red respectively. They then took another breath,

"Carnivàle Surprise!"

Daisies that glowed red shot out of both girls' hands and flew towards the Dokodar. The flowers hit the Dokodar and attached itself to it, growing out vines which entangled the Dokodar even more. The daisies gradually started to glow brighter until they exploded in a bright flash, leaving behind nothing.

Flare sighed, "Finally."

"Flare!" Daisy shouted, "The temperature! It's getting warmer; we have to get out of here before everyone sees us."

* * *

Backstage, Momoji smiled as the temperature of the auditorium started to rise and the ice that froze Akito disappeared.

"Akito!" she cried, hugging the boy.

"M-Momoji? What happened? Why is your face all red?" he asked.

"You were frozen!" she cried, "These two Cures appeared and fought off a Dokodar, I was so worried."

"Momoji? came a voice from behind the girl.

Momoji turned around and spotted the girl that she spoke to earlier. The brown-haired girl stood next to another, this other girl had red hair that was just a few shades darker than Cure Flare's. Momoji smiled,

"You two, you two are those Cures." she said.

"Yep!" said the redhead, "I'm Hanabi and this is Mei."

Mei blushed, "We didn't see you there when we transformed. Please, don't tell anyone."

Momoji giggled, "Okay… but, only if you two explain everything to me."

"What!" Hanabi shook her fist at Momoji, "Listen, you don't know how strong we are when we transform, if you even think that I won't hur-"

"Hanabi!" Mei exclaimed, "Calm down, it's okay." Mei looked at Momoji, "I'm sorry." she said.

Hanabi shook her head in disapproval, "Fine, fine. It's a deal then." she reluctantly said.

Momoji smiled, "Thank you."

"Natsuki!" exclaimed Mei, she and Hanabi had just arrived at the seats.

Natsuki's body jerked upwards,"H-huh? I-I wasn't sleeping…"

Mei giggled, "Sure, Natsuki. Um…" Mei gestured towards Hanabi, "This is Hanabi." she said.

Hanabi waved at Natsuki, "Heya!"

"Nice to meet you." said Natsuki.

Mei gasped, "Look! Momoji's going to perform."

Natsuki sighed, "Is she the last performer?"

Mei nodded, "Yes."

"Thank god." groaned Natsuki.

The girls watched on as Momoji performed a piece on her orchestra.

Natsuki and Hanabi both gasped, "Wow!"

Hanabi spoke in awe, "She's really good."

Mei put on a gentle smile and thought to herself, "_Momoji seems like a really nice person, but she knows that Hanabi and I are Cures. I wonder what this'll mean for us..._"

* * *

_Next Chapter – Momoji's Secret Test! Cure Maple Joins!_

_A/N: __Nothing but procrastination on my part. Sorry for taking so long. Chapters will come weekly/bi-weekly again. I don't like how this chapter turned out, I might rewrite it someday._


	9. Momoji's Secret Test! Cure Maple Joins!

_Chapter Eight – __Momoji's Secret Test! Cure Maple Joins!_

* * *

"Hanabi…" Mei softly poked the girl next to her, "Why did you tell me not to bring Mocchi again?"

Hanabi sighed and whispered into Mei's ear, "If they found out that we let someone find out that we're Pretty Cure we'll never hear the end of it!"

"B-But… it is our fault. To lie about it is…"

"Just trust me on this, Mei."

The two girls were sitting in a booth at a soba shop that Momoji had invited them to. The booth was in the back of the restaurant and isolated from the shop's usual crowd.

Mei cleared her throat and pulled out her cellphone to check the time,

"Where is Momoji? She told us that she'd be right back. It's been a while."

"I don't know." Hanabi grabbed at her stomach, "But I'm hungry." her last word was punctuated by the rumbling of her stomach.

"Sorry to keep you two waiting." Momoji's polite voice made the two look up; the tall girl had a huge tray in her hands that contained almost seven bowls of soba.

"Momoji!" Mei stood up from her seat, "Do you want some help?"

"I'm fine, thank you." she replied, "I bought some for all of us."

Hanabi gasped, "You're my savior!"

Mei however, wasn't so happy. Carefully helping Momoji put the bowls of soba onto the table, she spoke up with a shaky voice,

"Momoji, you didn't have to do this. How much did it cost? I'll pay you back."

"It's okay, Mei." replied Momoji, "You saved my friend's life, this is too little in terms of repayment. Please take it, I insist."

"I… okay." replied Mei.

* * *

"This is so good!" exclaimed Hanabi, the girl had already started eating her soba, "Do you come here often, Momoji?"

"Yes." replied the girl, "Akito and I come here a lot but… enough talking, let's eat!"

"Ahh!" Hanabi framed her face with her hands and put on a wide smile, "That was so good, I'm so full!" she shouted.

"H-Hanabi!" Mei looked around the restaurant, "Keep your voice down."

Momoji laughed, "It is good, isn't it?"

"Momoji." Mei eyed the amount of bowls in front of the girl, "Are you alright? Are you sure you're not full?"

"I'm fine." the girl replied, "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"N-no… it's just that..."

"I suppose we should stop eating so we can…" Momoji lowered her voice, "Discuss more important matters."

Mei jumped in her seat, "You mean…"

Momoji nodded, "About what happened on Monday."

"But I'm sleepy." Hanabi stretched her arms, "Whenever I eat, I get really tired."

Momoji closed her eyes and smiled, "If you don't talk, I'll have you pay for your bowl of soba."

Hanabi gasped, "Th-that's too cruel! I don't have any money!"

"Exactly!" Momoji slammed her hand on the table and accidentally hit down her glass of water, "Oh no!" she gasped.

Hanabi laughed, "That's karma for you."

Mei hurriedly wiped up the spill before it spread and make any more of a mess, "Once you promise not to tell anyone, Momoji." she spoke, "I trust you though. Now, what do you want to know?" she asked.

Momoji cleared her throat, "Who are you?"

"I'm Mei and also, Cure Daisy."

"And I'm…" began Hanabi, "The shining sun marks the sea-"

"Hanabi!" interrupted Mei, "Please be serious!" she shouted.

Hanabi sighed, "_You_ should keep your voice down, Mei. Anyway, I'm Hanabi and also, Cure Flare!"

Momoji looked up in thought, "I see. What's your mission?"

Mei looked towards Hanabi, "I… we… this is why we should have bought Mocchi and Neene, Hanabi."

Hanabi shrugged and folded her arms, "We're trying to save the planet from Typhoon and his minions. They plan to throw the world into chaos with the help of Lady Earthlight's power. Lady Earthlight is in charge of maintaining our world's balance and ecosystem…" Hanabi stopped, scratched her head and continued, "Typhoon likes to throw things into chaos or something. And uh… Lady Earthlight went into hiding and hid her sceptre into pieces on Earth and it's our job to protect her and find her sceptre before Typhoon does."

"H-Hanabi…" Mei's voice reeked of shock.

Hanabi shook her head in disapproval, "Do you really think I don't pay attention?"

Momoji giggled, "Okay. Now, who are Mocchi and Neene?"

"They're fairies." began Mei, "They work under Lady Earthlight and they were the ones who turned us into Pretty Cure. There are four Pretty Cure warriors and each have a fairy. We're looking for the others, but, Mocchi told me that we'll be drawn together so we don't have to actively search."

Momoji nodded, "I understand."

Mei smiled, "Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Before Momoji could answer, Hanabi let out a loud burp.

Mei looked at the girl next to her in shock, "_Hanabi!_"

"Hahaha…" Momoji began to laugh, "You two are so adorable."

* * *

At the Meteor House, Thunder, Hail and Acid stood going over their recent defeats.

"This is bad." said Thunder.

Hail scoffed, "You don't say."

Acid shook his head, "We have to start taking our mission seriously. Do not forget what we're trying to do." he said.

Hail replied in anger, "How could you say something like that?"

Thunder punched his palm, "It's been about a month since we left Terra and we've hardly done anything!" he shouted.

Hail walked towards the man and spoke in a gentle voice, "It's okay. We still have time."

"I think I have an idea." began Acid, "In order to get rid of Pretty Cure, we might have to take up civilian identities."

Hail gasped, "We'll be stealthy!"

Thunder laughed, "And don't only target them, but target others as well! I know that they wouldn't want innocent people getting hurt."

The other two put on a devious smile, "Of course..."

Unbeknownst to the three humanoids, Nimby stood in the same room as them, invisible to their eyes. The being stood, thinking to himself,

"_Mommy, by! Why'd you have to be friends with these idiots, by?" _

The cloud-shaped being left the room and went outside the house. Returning to a visible state, Nimby floated and remained lost in his thoughts,

"_Mommy will… __**no**__."_

Nimby's eyes changed to a red colour and he took on a humanoid shape. Tall and slender, the being put his long hands out and focused on sensing the Cures' power,

"_That group of imbeciles will never get anything done at this rate. It's time to visit the Cures and let them know that they're far from victory."_

* * *

Back at the soba shop, the girls have moved on from discussing Pretty Cure to idle, excited chatter about their lives.

"I don't know why." spoke Momoji, "Your school just called me and asked me to perform. I've never done anything like that before but, I do have a performance similar to that next month."

"Really?" asked Mei, "Wow. I wish I was as talented as you!" she said.

"Me too." said Hanabi, "You're in clubs and stuff, I'm not in anything… I wish I could be."

Momoji looked towards Hanabi and smiled, "It's never too late to join one, do you have any hobbies?"

"Well…" Hanabi began, "I do like swimming but there isn't a swimming club."

Mei jumped in excitement, "You can always start a club yourself, Momoji!"

"Really?" asked Hanabi, "I can do that?"

"Yes, I started a gardening club." replied Mei.

Momoji replied as well, "Of course you can." the girl's face then turned red, "You know… I've never gotten along so well with people that I've only recently met. If you two don't mind, would you like to come to my performance next month?" she asked.

The two other girls nodded, "Of course!"

Momoji smiled, "I'm so happy that you two are Cures too! That's it, you pass!" she exclaimed.

Mei gasped, "'C-Cures'…" Hanabi finished, "'Too?'", the two girls then asked in unison, "'Pass'?"

Momoji nodded, "I'm sorry for deceiving you two. I'm a Cure as well." the girl put on her Cure Ring and showed the two. Momoji then stood up and started to strike poses, "Amber leaves mark the season of Autumn! Cure Maple!" with her final pose, Momoji accidentally hit down a glass.

Mei giggled, "At least it was empty this time." the pigtailed-girl then stood up, "But Momoji, that's so great. I'm happy to be your teammate!" she said.

Hanabi then stood up as well, "Me too."

Momoji smiled and put her hand out. The other girls slowly put their hands on hers, "Let's do our best together!"

Mei and Hanabi nodded.

"Ahh!"

A woman's scream ended the girls' happy moment in an instant. Running to the entrance of the shop they all gasped,

"What?"

Outside of the shop stood a tall, white, humanoid being with red glowing eyes slowly walked towards the soba shop. Everything around the being appeared to be frozen in time and was a dark red colour.

"Does that thing work with Typhoon?" the girls gasped.

The being nodded and pointed his hand towards the girls. In an instant, everything around the girls froze and gained a dark red hue.

The girls all looked towards each other and nodded,

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" they yelled.

In flashes of light, the girls all took on their Cure forms.

Flare looked towards Maple, admiring her ally's new appearance, "Niiiiice!" she exclaimed.

Maple smiled, "It's a shame that we don't have time to admire each other and strike fancy poses. Maybe next time, girls?"

Daisy smiled and nodded, "Next time."

Maple pointed towards the strange being, "How dare you interrupt our fun time together!

The being stopped in his tracks, "I have no time for games. You girls have been nothing but meddlesome and so, I've come to deal with you myself."

Daisy opened her mouth in disbelief, "It can't be…"

Flare gasped, "I thought he didn't have enough power to…"

"Typhoon!" finished Maple.

Typhoon stretched out his arm and stung Daisy, hitting her a few feet away.

"Daisy!" yelled the other Cures.

Flare grinded her teeth, "Why you!"

The girl ran up towards Typhoon, "Summer's Fireworks!" she yelled and put her hand in front of Typhoon's eyes.

"That won't work on me." he said, in a deep voice that sent a shiver down Flare's spine. Typhoon hit away Flare with his hand, knocking her against Maple who was assisting Daisy in getting to her feet.

Daisy was shaking in fear as she tried to stand up, "This is bad. Stop rushing in, Flare." she said.

Maple nodded, "Yes. We have to strategize."

Daisy spotted some nearby plants and rose her hand up, "Help me, please!" she yelled. The plants quickly grew and wrapped around Typhoon's body.

Flare jumped high up in the air, using her unique Cure power. Hovering above Typhoon she put her hand up in the air, "Precure! Summertime…"

Maple understood what the girls were trying to do and put her hands out in front of her, waiting on the others.

Daisy then started to charge up her own attack, "Precure! Springtime…"

Maple then spoke, "Precure! Authmn…"

The girls unleashed their attacks one by one, "Carnivàle!", "Surprise!", "Festival!"

The attacks flew towards Typhoon and hit him, generating an enormous shockwave that managed to push even the girls back. When the smoke had cleared though, Typhoon stood in the same spot, looking unscathed.

"No!" cried Daisy.

Typhoon ran towards the pink-haired Cure and hit her, causing her to fly and crash into a nearby building.

Flare and Maple who ran up to him in anger at what he had just done to their friend. Typhoon chuckled and quickly wrapped his limbs around the Cures, raising them high up into the air and brutally slamming them back down onto the ground.

Daisy steadily tried to stand up, the girl was in tears, "This is awful…" she cried.

Flare looked towards Daisy, barely able to see the girl after being hurt so badly "Daisy…" she moaned.

Maple could barely find the energy to speak, let alone get up, "D-don't falter…" she managed to gasp out.

Typhoon stood before the girls, chuckling, "And you call yourselves heroes?"

"Girls!"came a group of voices.

The Cures looked towards the source and saw their fairies running towards them, Mocchi, Neene and Purin.

Mocchi sobbed as she approached Daisy, "Daisy! Are you okay, chi!"

"Flare, ne!" cried Neene Why'd you leave without saying anything, ne?"

Flare lightly chuckled, coughing as she did so, "Before asking me if I'm okay… that's what you'll ask?"

"Maple, rin!" spoke Purin, "Please speak to me! Please be okay!"

"I am…" softly replied Maple.

The fairies' concern for their partners only made Typhoon laugh more,

"I understand that you girls didn't know what you were getting yourselves into, can you really like these fairies after they got you into this? This is the last chance that I'm giving you, do not interrupt our plans any further. This is your last warning."

"And this is yours!" an unknown voice echoed throughout the lifeless town.

The Cures looked towards the source and spotted a girl atop a building, arms folded and looking down towards Typhoon with rage in her eyes,

"What you've done is unforgivable! How dare you turn these girls' fun afternoon out into _this_!"

Daisy looked at the girl, barely making her out with her blurry vision, "Who is that?" she asked.

The unknown girl continued, "Girls, I cannot tell you to ignore Typhoon's warning but please, find the strength in yourselves to make your _own_ decision." she said. The girl then threw Typhoon one last glare and spun around, disappearing in a cloud of white smoke.

Typhoon looked at where the girl once stood and looked back towards the Cures as if she had never appeared,

"I can sense that a piece of The Gaia Scepter will activate on the day of your spring festival, should you turn up and fight, I will take it that you have chosen to ignore my warning. It is truly a pity that if you ignore my warning that I will not have enough power to take over this being's body once more and slaughter you myself. Goodbye, Pretty Cure."

Typhoon himself then disappeared before the girls' eyes.

* * *

Daisy took in a deep breath,"We didn't ch-… huh?" the girl looked around, she and her friends were back in the soba shop and in their regular forms as if nothing had ever happened,

"Wh-what just happened?" she asked.

Hanabi and Momoji looked around them, confused as well, "I don't know…"

"It was Typhoon's power, rin!" came a voice.

"Purin!" exclaimed Momoji.

"He probably threw us all into a chaotic state, ne!"

Hanabi gasped, "Neene!"

"What you all experienced was very real, chi!"

Mei hugged Mocchi, "Mocchi! I was so scared."

Momoji looked down in sorrow, "We all were…"

Hanabi shook her fist in anger, "Dammit!"

Mei looked at her friends and then spoke, "I'm not going to say that I wasn't scared but I didn't choose to become a Cure without knowing that it might be scary. We have to save our planet, everyone in it, Satsuki… Akito… and your family and friends too, Hanabi!"

Hanabi nodded, "You're right." the girl looked toward Neene, "I thought about this on the day you made me a Cure and I've decided that I want to do this."

Momoji smiled, "I did the same. Don't go thinking that you _forced_ me into anything, Purin!"

The fairies all jumped in joy and hugged their partners.

"Wait." spoke Neene, "I have one question, how did you all find each other?"

"Uhh…" Mei and Hanabi looked at each other and nervously laughed.

After telling the story of the transformation mishap, the fairies gave Mei and Hanabi a lengthy lecture, after that was over, the group moved on to another issue.

"Who was that girl?" asked Mei.

"I have no doubt about it." replied Momoji, "She's the Cure of Winter."

Hanabi groaned, "Why didn't she just stay with us and then we'd be all together and this searching thing would be over with?"

Purin shook her head, "If she's with Uji, he must have sensed that you girls weren't exactly in reality, rin."

Neene then spoke, "Since we were close by we managed to stay with you after his power was over but Uji and that girl must have been drawn into Typhoon's chaos world from far away, ne."

"From far away, chi? I hope she's not too far, chi!"

Mei then cautiously began to speak, "I… I don't like to take charge like this b-but… we're all going to the spring festival to stop Typhoon and his minions, r-right?"

Hanabi and Momoji nodded, "Of course!" they said.

Mei smiled at the other two's enthusiasm.

"Great , ne!" said Neene, "Now that all that's settled, can I get what they sell at this shop, ne? It smells delicious, ne!"

Hanabi groaned, "Neene! You guys shouldn't even be out!"

Not bothering with laughing along with the rest of the group, Mei thought to herself,

"_Even though fighting is kind of scary… I'm having fun with Hanabi, Mocchi, Neene and now Momoji and Purin! I wonder what kind of girl the Cure of Winter and Uji is? I hope she shows up at the spring festival too."_

* * *

_Next Chapter – Showdown at the Spring Festival!? Our Mysterious Hero Returns!_


	10. Showdown at the Spring Festival?

_Chapter Nine – Showdown at the Spring Festival! Our Mysterious Hero Returns!_

* * *

It was the night before the spring festival and the Tarano house was covered with silence. Mei's head was laid onto her older sister's lap while the two sat on their living room couch, Mocchi had long fallen asleep. Save for a lamp nearby, the rest of the house was in complete darkness.

"Uh…" Satsuki opened her mouth to speak and then suddenly closed it. The older girl had wanted to talk about what was about to transpire the next day but although she had promised herself that she'd mention it in the past hour, she'd done everything but that. Satsuki simply didn't know what to say without sounding too worried and in Mei's case, she didn't know what to say without possibly worrying her sister even more. Tired of the silence, Satsuki finally took in a deep breath and spoke,

"Mei."

Satsuki slightly shook her sister, causing the girl to churn slightly; she was falling asleep on herself.

"Hm?" the younger girl quickly sat up, trying to seem alert, "What is it?" she asked.

Satsuki sighed and closed her eyes as she thought about what to say. She wanted to choose her words wisely. Reopening her eyes, she spoke,

"I know you told me not to worry but I can't help myself, I'm worried!"

Satsuki went silent and stared at her sister's eyes. Mei returned the gaze and she realized that Satsuki wasn't lying, her sister's face was drenched with worry. Putting on a simple smile, Mei hugged her sister,

"Being negative won't do any good!" she said.

"I know but-"

"_And…_ I'm offended! Thinking that I'm going to be hurt is mean!" Mei giggled, "I've made some new friends and I have a feeling that their hearts are into this as much as mines. We won't lose."

Satsuki shook her head and pulled her sister closer, "You've always been so naïve, thinking like that is so childish…"

The younger girl shook her head in her sister's embrace and replied with a mocking voice, "You've always been so cynical, thinking like that is a little unhealthy."

Satsuki laughed, "You're right. I'm sorry, Mei."

"I… I'll win. I promise!"

Satsuki just looked at her sister for a while before nodding, "You better keep that promise."

Mei nodded, "I will." The girl then thought to herself, "_And your birthday is coming up soon too, Satsuki, I wouldn't miss that for the world."_

* * *

Hanabi shivered as she walked along the shore of one of Hamasaki's beaches. It was an unusually cold night, she wondered if that was one of the impacts that Typhoon and Earthlight's conflict had had on Earth. She looked out over the lake and sighed, it was too cold to swim. The girl put her hands behind her head and groaned,

"Well, this was a pointless walk…"

"Hanabi?" a male voice called out amidst the silence.

Recognizing the voice, Hanabi swallowed hard before she turned around,

"M-Masaya? What are you doing here?" she asked.

The tall boy stood before the girl with tired eyes, his dark hair damp from what Hanabi assumed was a late night swim.

"Shouldn't I ask you that?"

Hanabi shrugged and said nothing as the boy walked up beside her, walking with her down the shoreline. The girl swallowed again, she didn't know what to say and felt uncomfortable in the awkward silence. The two had barely spoken since they were put into separate classes and Masaya had other friends now. Before she could think up a topic to bring up, the boy had already interrupted the silence,

"Hey."

"What?"

"Do you want to go sit on the docks?"

"Okay." she replied.

Hanabi winced at her responses, they were so… stiff, she thought. The walk over to the docks wasn't any less uncomfortable for Hanabi. The crashing of the waves and Hanabi's nervous cracking of her fingers were almost deafening when compared to the silent night. Sitting down on the docks, Hanabi once again shuffled through possible topics to bring up in her mind but was again interrupted by Masaya before she could say anything,

"How are you?" he asked.

"G-good, you?"

There was a long pause before anyone spoke again.

Hanabi sighed.

Suddenly, Masaya stood up from the docks. Hanabi looked around, nervous,

"_Now I've done it, that was kind of rude of me, wasn't it?"_ she thought, "_I better talk now._"

"Are we friends!?" the girl almost screamed out loud.

Masaya eyed the girl and said nothing for a while.

The boy shook his head,

"You haven't changed at all, Hanabi."

"What are you talking about?"

Masaya looked away from Hanabi and out into the ocean,

"A lot has happened. I can't talk anymore, I have to go home. You should too."

"W-wait!"

Masaya looked at Hanabi and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but instead, turned around and walked off, leaving the girl alone. When the boy was a good distance away, Hanabi stomped her feet in anger and kicked the air. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed down and laid down onto the docks, staring at the night sky. She sighed,

"What is his deal?" she groaned, "I… he doesn't know anything."

Hanabi then paused for a while, "Hey, wait a minute." She stood up and looked around the docks, "This is where I met Neene…"

She looked at the ring on her finger,

"I don't know what he's talking about but… I have changed, haven't I?"

The girl then threw her fist into the air and yelled out across the sea with a newfound determination,

"I'm a Cure now! And I'm gonna wipe the floor with Acid and those other goons tomorrow!"

* * *

At Akito's house, Momoji had snuck in so that the two could talk about the coming battle. The two friends sat back to back on the floor of the boy's pale blue room, talking about everything _but_ the next day until Akito suddenly brought it up.

"Ms. Momoji~" he teased.

"Stop that." Momoji laughed.

"How do you feel about tomorrow?"

Momoji curled in her lips before speaking, "Statistically, we have no chance… but this is magic we're dealing with here, right!?"

Akito laughed, "I still can't believe that all this has really happened. Typhoon, Pretty Cure…" the boy groaned before continuing, "Hail…"

"Me neither. I know this is going to sound silly but… I'm optimistic about tomorrow. I think we can do it. Mei and Hanabi… I know that they're trying their best… and I am too! I want to continue to have fun times with you and the new friends that I've made."

"Me too. Do your best, Momoji."

Momoji stood up and walked around Akito's bedroom,

"I still have that performance to do too… and Mei and Hanabi promised to come."

The girl turned around and look towards Akito,

"And I also really want to help you do something about decorating this bland room, Akito." she teased.

Akito blushed, "St-stop being like that!"

Momoji walked around some more, further examining the boy's room. The girl's interest was piqued when she noticed a dusty old baseball bat behind the boy's bed,

"Aha, what's this?" she asked, as she pulled out the bat.

"Hey, put that away."

"Do you play baseball, Akito?" she asked, practicing some strikes with the bat.

"No… well, kind of."

Momoji looked towards the boy in shock, "Wait, you do?"

The boy let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah but, no one really knows."

Momoji gasped, "Not even me?"

The boy shook his head, "Well, obviously."

The girl let out a nervous chuckle as she realized her stupid question,

"Why?" she asked.

"Well… it's _me_." Akito replied.

Momoji sighed and put down the bat,

"That's it. Stop that, you can be anything you want, Akito. Don't let other people make you feel like you're only expected to do one thing."

Akito looked to the side,

"Not this again…"

The girl sat down next to the boy,

"Yes. this again! Promise me that if I… no, after I do win that we see about you joining a club or something, okay?" Momoji then gasped, "You could even talk to Hanabi and the two of you could help each other! She wants to start a club too!"

"When you do win? You seem pretty confident."

Momoji stood up again and struck a pose,

"It's me we're talking about, of course I'll win."

She looked to the boy and smiled,

"And look, I didn't even hit anything when I bragged about myself! That's a good sign, right?"

* * *

Yukino looked into the mirror as she tied her long hair into a bun. Although the mirror showed a stoic face, the girl was still energetic about her 'performance' a few days ago,

"_I remembered all my lines perfectly; I was just like the mysterious sixth ranger who saves the others in the nick of time." _She thought.

Climbing into her bed, the girl looked in the direction of her desk. Uji laid there in a small basket which Yukino made into a bed for him.

"Uji." she called out.

"What is it, ji?" he asked.

The girl paused for a while and then shook her head, "It's nothing." She said.

Yukino laid down onto her bed and pulled the covers over her head; she closed her eyes.

Uji looked at the girl; even though she had appeared to open up after her first battle, the girl still hadn't. Or rather, Yukino hadn't. Cure Snow and Yukino were almost like two completely different people.

"_Yuki…" he thought, "Good night, ji! Everything will be alright, ji!"_

The small fairy was hoping that with the help of the other Cures that she'd be able to come out of her shell.

Under the blanket, Yukino was scolding herself for that very same thing, she had wanted to open up as well.

"_I want to change…" _she thought_, "I want the other Cures to be my friends…"_

* * *

"The spring festival is here!" shouted Hanabi.

She, Mei, Momoji and Satsuki had just met at the park where the festival was taking place.

Mei gasped and looked around at the people around them,

"H-Hanabi… don't be so loud, people will stare.

Momoji and Satsuki however, mostly ignored Hanabi's bellowing and were looking at the various stalls around them. Momoji eyed a nearby stall which were selling sundresses,

"Those are so pretty, Satsuki. I think that one would look perfect on you."

Satsuki looked at the girl and smiled,

"Y-you really think so?" she looked down at what she was wearing, it wasn't much. The older girl had never really taken time to dress herself up nicely.

Momoji nodded, "How about we go look at them together?"

"Um… sure!" Satsuki was a little shocked at the girl's offering, she had expected Momoji to stay with Mei and Hanabi. Before walking towards the stall with Momoji, she turned towards Mei and Hanabi,

"You girls be careful, okay?"

"We know, Satsuki." replied Mei, "We won't talk to strangers."

Hanabi folded her arms, "I can take 'em!"

Satsuki shook her head, "You know what I mean…"

"We know." Mei giggled.

Hanabi punched the air in front of her, "I can take 'em too!"

Momoji sighed at Hanabi's antics, "Come on, Satsuki!" she said.

"Wait!" Mei said out loud, "I… I want us to have fun. I know what's supposed to happen today but don't let that ruin this festival that everyone worked so hard on!"

The rest of the girls looked towards Mei and nodded,

"Yes!" they all agreed.

* * *

The group of girls had split up and were looking at everything in the festival. Mei wanted them to enjoy the festival and she was right. With that in mind, the girls were looking at everything possible. Somewhere along the way, Mei had bounced into her older sister who had separated from Momoji. As the sisters walked through the festival, Satsuki told Mei all about the fashion tutorial that Momoji had given her,

"She knows so much, it was so nice to have someone around who knows about fashion."

Mei looked at her sister and frowned, "Why are you so mean?" she then gasped and pointed at a booth some distance away, "Wow, look at the pretty flower on that plant! Can we get it, Satsuki?"

"Mei…" Satsuki had put on her 'adult' tone, "We have so many at home already. I don't want our house to look like a plant hoarder lives there."

"I… but… okay." the girl sighed, admitting defeat. She too, knew that they were close to having too many plants.

"And don't you have that one already?" A voice from behind surprised the two girls, "I saw it when I came over once."

Turning around, Mei spotted her friend, Natsuki.

"Natsuki!" Mei ran up to her friend and hugged her, "You came!"

Natsuki shrugged, "I think the spring festival is _really boring_ but I knew you wanted me to come so here I am… but I'm leaving in a little while." the girl said her last few words in a whisper.

Some distance away, Hanabi was playing a gambling game with a shady looking gentleman. The man had just explained the rules of the game to her.

"So, I have to correctly pick out the card that I choose after you shuffle it, right? And I 'win big'?"

The man nodded.

"Are you sure?" she asked, "I hear games like this are always run by scam artists!"

The girl raised her voice with the last few words and caused a small crowd to gather around.

"Show me those cards, come on! Let's do this!"

The crowd looked on with full attention as the game began. Hanabi picked out a card and the man set it down on the wooden table and shuffled it around. The girl looked over all of the cards, wondering if the card that her eyes had followed were indeed the one that she had picked out. Deciding not to go out on a limb and guess, she placed her finger down on the card that she was following. The man looked up at her,

"Is that your final choice?"

Hanabi narrowed her eyes, "Don't ask me a question like that, I know how you guys work! You're trying to make me doubt myself, huh?"

The crowd around Hanabi and the gamemaster erupted in "Ooh"s and "Ah"s.

The girl then felt someone poke her from behind and a voice spoke,

"It's not that one."

Hanabi turned around and spotted a boy about her height staring at her. He had a lazy, tired look on his face and black hair that fell onto his forehead.

"It's that one." He pointed to a card just left of the one she had her finger on, "…Good eye, though." he said with a smirk.

Hanabi looked at the boy, a little confused, "Err… thanks." she then looked towards the man in charge of the game, "I guess I'll go with that one then."

The man hesitantly turned over the card, revealing that it really was the one that Hanabi had first chosen.

Hanabi and the crowd gasped.

"Woah! He-" Hanabi had turned back around to thank the boy but he had already left.

Meanwhile, Momoji and Akito were looking at some clothes in another booth.

"Come on, Momoji. How long are you going to watch these? I met you with Satsuki watching clothes and that's all you've been watching since then!"

"I know but just… look at how pretty this dress is… I wish Purin didn't have to stay behind so she could help me choose out something. You're so unenthusiastic, Akito."

"Excuse me." the woman running the booth had walked up between the two friends, she had long blond hair and was dressed as if she was an American living in the 70s, "Monsieur et mademoiselle, how may I help you?" she asked, in a sing-song voice.

Akito looked at the woman cautiously, "Um, what?"

The woman had taken Momoji aback, "No, thank you." Momoji replied.

The woman's gaze lingered on Akito before she walked off to help another customer.

Akito looked at the woman as she walked away,

"She seems familiar for some reason."

"Me too." replied Momoji, "It's a little odd… anyway, what do you think of this?"

Momoji pulled out a bright yellow dress and showed it to Akito.

"It's… a little bright." he replied.

Momoji sighed,

"That's it, let's go find the others. I need some feminine help."

Momoji grabbed Akito's hand and the two stormed off to find the others.

"There they are!" Momoji pointed towards Mei, Hanabi and Satsuki some distance away.

"Momoji!" Mei waved and started walking up to the girl but was bumped into by someone.

"Ow…" The brown-haired girl looked at the person who had bumped into her. It was a girl, she had bright green eyes and neck-length jet black hair with bangs. She wore a sleeveless white dress and had pale, white skin. The girl gave Mei and odd feeling for some reason.

"Watch where you're going!" said the girl.

"I… I'm sorry." replied Mei.

Hanabi, Momoji and the others quickly ran towards Mei.

"Are you alright?" Mei asked.

The girl looked away from the group and spoke in a quiet voice, "No… I'm… I'm lost."

"Lost?" asked Satsuki.

Momoji took a step closer towards the girl, "Do you need any help?"

"No." the girl replied and then ran off.

"What a creep!" exclaimed Hanabi.

Akito jumped at the girl's loud voice, "H-Hanabi, right? Be quiet. She might hear you."

"No, it's my fault." said Mei, "Anyway, um… did everyone have fun?" she asked.

The rest of the group nodded.

"I won this huge teddy bear!" said Hanabi, waving around a large, pink bear, "The guy said I'd _win big_ and I did!"

Momoji touched the teddy bear,

"It's so soft!"

Ignoring the idle talk, Akito looked towards the sky; the sun was already starting to set and people were starting to leave.

"The sun's already starting to set…" he said, "and still… nothing."

Satsuki nodded, "You're right. I'm getting nervous."

Mei held her sister's hand, "Don't be nervous. Look at th-" Mei gasped.

Hanabi looked around her, "Do you feel that?" she asked the others.

"I do." replied Momoji "What about you, Satsuki? Akito?"

The two looked at Momoji with a confused look.

"Is it a fragment? What's this strange energy?" Mei had worry in her voice.

"It must be a big one." said Hanabi.

Before anyone else could speak, the sky and everything and everyone around the Cures changed to a red hue.

Mei gasped, "Not this again!"

Momoji looked around the area, "What was it again? A chaotic state?" she then looked towards Akito and frowned, he was frozen, as well as Satsuki.

Mei hugged her frozen sister, even though she knew she wouldn't feel anything, "I'll be okay. I promise." she said. The girl then looked towards the others, "Let's go." she said.

"Mei, chi!"

"Hanabi, ne!"

"Momoji, rin!"

The girls' fairies had arrived and each girl welcomed them with a warm embrace.

"Be careful, chi!" exclaimed Mocchi.

Neene floated in front of the Cures and looked at each one as he spoke, "Expect a big attack, ne!"

Purin looked towards Neene and laughed, "It's nothing that my Momoji can't handle, rin!"

Momoji looked down at Purin, "_My Momoji_?"

A bright flash of light then shot up into the sky some distance away, followed by another that wasn't too far away.

Mei gasped, "Is it two fragments? At the same time?"

Mei's question was answered with a loud cackle and a loud "Yes!"

The girls looked up above them and spotted Thunder, Acid and Hail along with a strange, cartoonish looking being that resembled a cloud.

Thunder was in front of his teammates, appearing to take up the leadership role.

"Like our new power?" he asked, "We're all in a chaotic state! Something that we've created by using the power of all our Dokodar Orbs!"

The man jerked his head towards Acid,

"You and I will go towards that one." he said, pointing towards one of the fragments, "Hail!" he nodded in her direction, "Do your stuff and then you and Nimby go for the other."

Hail pointed her hand at the girls below her who all braced for an attack but instead of being attacked, a large dome of ice formed around the group, trapping them. The quartet then quickly rushed off to find the fragments.

Hanabi jumped up and down, obviously psyched, "Let's do this!" she yelled, "We can break this cage in no time!"

Momoji though, was still looking at the spot where their enemies were, "Was announcing their plans like that a good idea?"

"Everyone…" Mei looked towards her friends, "Let's give our best."

A loud crash echoed throughout the park followed by the dome of ice around the girls shattering and disappearing.

"We'll have to split up." came a girl's voice. The fairies jumped around in excitement, "The Cure of Winter! Uji!" they exclaimed.

The girls turned around and there stood the Cure of Winter along with the fourth and last fairy, Uji.

Mei smiled at the girl, "Thank you." and then looked towards Hanabi and Momoji, "Let's transform." she told them. The three girls then threw their hands into the air and their rings started to glow,

"Pretty Cure! Altermode, switch on!" they shouted.

Mei touched her chest with her ring and her body glowed with a pink light. Flowers and vines appeared all over her body which eventually turned into her Cure costume with a pink flash. Hanabi did the same however, glitter and firework explosions appeared where Mei's flowers and vines were. Lastly, Momoji's costumes appeared through amber and crimson leaves.

"Blooming flowers mark the season of Spring! Cure Daisy!"

"The shining sun marks the season of Summer! Cure Flare!"

"Amber leaves mark the season of Autumn! Cure Maple!"

The three girls struck a pose as the fourth Cure watched them.

The fourth Cure watched the girls silently but inside, she was bouncing with happiness. "I'm Cure Snow." She said, "Now, quickly, let's pair up to be more efficient."

Daisy and Flare looked towards each other, "We've worked together the most…" said Daisy, she looked towards Maple, "I'm sorry, Momoji…"

Maple shook her head,

"It's alright, I understand." She said, before looking towards Snow. She smiled, "That leaves you and me."

Flare put her hand to her mouth and started to giggle, "_Leaves."_

Daisy groaned,

"Come on, Hanabi!"

Snow looked at her new teammates one by one, "Our mission is to protect Earth. Don't falter. Let us go." she said, before running off to confront their enemies. Cure Maple along with Purin and Uji quickly followed after Snow.

Flare still had her hand to her mouth, softly giggling,

"She talks like a robot." she said.

"Don't be mean, Hanabi, chi!" said Mocchi.

Neene then spoke out in a slightly annoyed tone, "Let's go, ne!"

The four then ran off to face Thunder and Acid for the other fragment.

* * *

While heading towards Thunder and Acid, Daisy and Flare were halted by a large tree growing before them.

"What is this?" asked Daisy.

"This is just like that first time." replied Flare.

"The fragment causes nature to overact, chi!" informed Mocchi, as she caught up to the two Cures.

Neene was beside Mocchi, "Don't you remember the forest in the park?" he explained, "And the whirlpool in the lake, ne?"

As Neene finished, another large tree grow out of the ground before the group. Flare jumped high up into the air and surveyed the area,

"Woah!" she exclaimed, "This is way worse than the first time! There's trees and branches everywhere! I can't get through this in one jump… this is going to be a pain."

Mei looked at the path before them, distress was written all over the young girl's face,

"How are we going to get pass this? It's like a maze…"

Mocchi then spoke up,

"Typhoon put this area under a chaotic state! It's causing the fragments to go out of control even more, chi!"

Flare scoffed,

"Well, we have no choice." she dropped down to the ground and extended a hand towards Mei, "Come on!"

Daisy smiled and grabbed onto Flare's hand, the red-haired girl jumped and skipped through the maze, hoping to make their way towards their enemies.

Not too far away, Maple and Snow were also being affected by the fragments' power.

Maple put her hand on her chin in thought,

"This will be a tad difficult to get through." she said.

Snow looked at her new ally and then towards the blocked part before them. She put her hands out and they glowed with a white light, soon enough, the trees blocking them froze and she kicked them, breaking them into pieces.

Maple's eyes grew in size,

"I… I see. That's a way of getting through this too, I suppose."

Maple spun around, making the wind around the two pick up pace. Leaves materialized all around her and flew towards the blocked path, cutting the trees apart. Snow looked at the girl, fairly impressed but she didn't say anything. Instead, she and Uji ran through the newly created path.

"Is she shy?" Maple asked Purin.

"It seems so, rin!"

Maple giggled, "That's adorable! Anyway, come along, Purin!"

* * *

_Next Chapter - A Fierce Battle! Pretty Cure's New Power!_


	11. A Fierce Battle!

_Chapter Ten - A Fierce Battle! Pretty Cure's New Power!_

* * *

"Daisy… ugh, I'm getting tired." Cure Flare was hopping from tree to tree with Daisy holding onto her back. Although they both knew that she would get weary at some point, the fact that not even five minutes had passed since the two's trek began had them suspicious.

"Already?" asked Daisy, her voice had a mixture of confusion and worry in it, "O-okay. Let me down, don't push yourself anymore."

Flare jumped down onto some open ground with the girl before letting her down. She sighed as Daisy got off her back,

"I'm sorry." Flare began, "I don't know why but, I just feel so drained."

Daisy looked at Flare, obviously worried,

"I can't explain it but I feel a little weird too."

The two looked around them,

Flare gasped, "Could it be…"

"The chaotic state is doing this?" finished Daisy, "Where are Mocchi and Neene?"

Flare looked around again,

"They told us that they'd catch up with us when they realized that we were moving faster than them…"

Daisy clasped her hands and put them on her chest,

"I hope they're alright… the others too."

The pink-haired girl gasped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around, she sighed when she saw that it was just Flare.

"Relax!" she said with a smile, "I'm sure they're okay. Come on, let's go!"

"Precure! Autumn Festival!"

A barrage of leaves shot out of Cure Maple's hands and cleared a path amongst some tall trees.

"This is getting tiring." she said.

Snow walked ahead of the girl, not looking back towards her while she spoke,

"It must be one of the effects of this chaotic state."

"Ah!" Maple gasped as Snow threw out her theory, everything made a lot more sense now, "You're probably right!" she said.

"She is right, ji!"

Maple turned around to the voice, "Uji! And Purin too!"

The brown bird shook her head,

"If we caught up with you then that means that Cure Snow is slowing you down, rin!"

Uji growled and softly hit his sister with his top hat,

"Ouch!" cried Purin.

The small penguin then sighed before speaking,

"You two should be careful, ji! The enemy is using this power for a reason, ji!"

"Right, rin! It will be a tough fight, rin!"

Maple's faced dropped in sadness,

"I know…" she looked toward her new teammate, "Listen, we're not going to get anywhere if we don't cooperate."

Snow stopped walking as soon as Maple had finished speaking. Since the two had separated from Daisy and Flare, Snow had been rushing on and barely acknowledging that Maple was with her. Maple continued,

"Please…"

"_I'm doing it again."_ Snow thought. She turned around to look at Maple, _"What should I say?" _she thought. She opened her mouth to speak,

"I… hurry up then." she said.

* * *

"Flare, wait." Daisy grabbed onto the back of Flare's outfit, pulling her back quickly. The two were so focused on making their way through the congested path that they hadn't even noticed just how close the tall pillar of light that the fragment was emitting had gotten. The fragment was just some mere feet away.

"Look!" whispered Daisy, "The light that the fragment is giving off is so close by. Thunder and Acid must be there already."

"Hmph. What are we going to do? We'll have to fight them anyway."

"No, chi!"

"Mocchi?" the two girls turned around and spotted their fairies behind them, they had finally caught up to them.

Neene rose up before the two girls and hovered there. He looked at Flare and immediately began scolding her,

"You should strategize ne! Don't just rush in without thinking, ne!"

Flare narrowed her eyes,

"What do you wanna do? It's not like any of us have any idea how to _strategize_."

While the Neene and Flare argued, Daisy was looking towards where the fragment must be,

"H-hey… there's an open area over there. That must be where the fragment… and Thunder and Acid must be?"

"Huh?" Flare and Neene fell quiet and looked towards where Daisy were looking,

"You're right!" Flare exclaimed.

"Be quiet, chi!" scolded Mocchi, "They're right there, chi!"

The others looked more closely,

Daisy gasped,

"You're right, Mocchi."

Flare looked towards the fairies,

"You two stay here."

"Wait, ne!"

The Cures looked toward Neene,

"They don't seem to know how to take the fragment, ne!"

Flare folded her arms, she was getting impatient and wanted to spring into action already,

"You're right. They would have taken it already."

The group looked back towards Thunder and Acid; the two stood in front of the fragment and seemed to be arguing over something.

Mocchi started to cry,

"Even if we fight them off, chi! Would we know how to get the fragment, chi?"

"Mocchi!" Daisy knelt down and rubbed the small bird, "Don't cry. We'll figure it out, okay?" the Cure looked towards Flare who nodded.

"Don't worry." Flare said, "I… uh, I'll do my best." the girl looked at everything but Mocchi as she finished her sentence.

Daisy rose up to her feet and looked towards Flare who shrugged and smiled,

"Come on." said Daisy, and the two Cures walked out into the open space, where Thunder, Acid and the Gaia Scepter fragment were.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cure Maple and Cure Snow had also spotted their enemies and the other fragment. Just like how the other fragment was located in an open area, so was this one. Maple and Purin quietly looked towards Hail and Nimby while Uji spoke to Snow,

"This is a now or never battle, ji!" the fairy said.

Snow simple nodded and looked towards Maple,

"He's right. Do you have any plans?"

Maple looked at the girl and smirked, as if she should know better,

"Of course I do. We have to give it our all. I want you to try and trap us. If they get the fragment first they'll try to run away. We'll need to stop them."

Snow looked down at her hands; she didn't want to say anything but she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that. She might have put on a confident persona but she was still very, very worried that they might lose. Her worst fear right now was that she would cause the others to lose. She was already the newest addition to the team and felt out of place, making the others lose would make her feel even worse. She shook her head and put all that out of her mind. She looked up at Maple, gave her a nod and answered with a simple, "Yes."

"Momoji, rin…" Purin suddenly spoke up, her usual snarky tone was gone, "Please be careful."

"Of course, I'll be." replied the Cure.

Uji looked towards Snow and while he didn't say anything, he was sure that Snow got the message because he could swear that for almost a split second, the young girl had smiled at him.

* * *

"We won't let you have this fragment!"

Cure Daisy and Cure Flare's voices echoed throughout the otherwise dead silent forest, they had appeared before Thunder and Acid. The four were in a wide, open area that was almost completely surrounded by what was basically a wall of trees. The tall pillar of light that the fragment was shooting, shot straight up into the sky and gave off a bright light that contrasted with the dark red hue that the area had.

"Heh." Thunder chuckled, "So you've arrived."

Acid turned back around to face the fragment,

"Don't think that we'll go easy on you this time." he said.

"Yep." said the taller man, "We have a mission to accomplish and we won't let you get in our way!"

The two, Thunder especially, seemed far more serious than when the Cures had first met them and though it worried Daisy and Flare, the two Cures stood their ground. Thunder looked at them and then started to laugh,

"Prepare to be crushed." he said.

Flare looked to her right at Daisy and though Daisy had expected the other girl to begin laughing at the man's cheesiness she instead gave her a light smile before rushing towards Acid,

"Precure! Summertime Carnivàle!" she shouted.

Flare's hands grew with a red light as she ran towards the boy. Acid's back was still facing the girl and she almost wanted to smile at how open the boy was making himself. Right before Flare's fists connected with the boy though, he quickly spun around and put his wrist up to block against the girl's attack.

"Bang!"

The impact was thunderous. Flare groaned in pain as the boy countered her attack.

"Do you like it?" Acid asked, the boy had a smug expression on his face. Flare gasped as she noticed what the boy was talking about. Acid's entire right arm was covered in what appeared to be metal.

The boy laughed at the girl's horrified expression,

"That's not all it can do." he continued. Right before the girl's eyes, the metal around Acid's arms changed shape, and what it changed to, resembled a gun. Before he could do anything else, Flare jumped high up into the air and just in time too, as the boy shot out a green liquid out of his arm.

"Flare!" screamed Daisy, "Be careful!"

The Cure was about to go to her friend's aid before Thunder decided to make his presence known,

"Ahem."

Daisy looked back towards the man, she was more concerned about Flare but she knew that she had to fight.

"You…" she said, "How can you willingly do these things? Don't you care about Earth at all?"

The man laughed,

"You don't know anything, do you?" he asked, "We're not from this planet."

Daisy gasped as the man smiled.

"Take this!" he yelled, "Thunder!" the man punched the air and a ball of lightning flew out at the girl and shocked her. Daisy screamed out in pain.

"Daisy!" the fairies' shouts of worry were totally drowned out by the Cure's screams. When the assault was over, Daisy fell down to the ground, gasping,

"I… I wish we didn't have to fight but… I'll fight… to protect everyone." she said. She looked up at the man with rage in her eyes and rushed forward.

"Spring's Leaves!" she shouted. A large leaf appeared on her right wrist.

"Thunder!" yelled the man again but Daisy used the leaf to deflect the attack.

"Thunder!" the man started to call his attack repeatedly, sending multiple balls of lightning at the girl, all of which she managed to deflect with her shield.

"_Satsuki… everyone…"_ she thought, right at that moment she heard a scream come from Flare and tears started to well up in her eyes. As the girl approached the man, he attempted to jump up into the air but Daisy put her left hand into the air and vines grew out from underneath the man, reaching up and grabbing him.

"Precure! Springtime Surprise!" the leaf on Daisy's wrist disappeared as her hands started to glow with a pink light. Instead of shooting out the energy though, she kept it in-hand and transferred all of it to her right hand.

"Ugh, dammit!" Thunder struggled against his bonds, going as far as emitting electricity from his own body to try and destroy the vines.

"Take this!" yelled Daisy, the girl jumped up to reach the man and punched him. With the momentum that she had gained while running towards him and her special Cure attack, the punch was powerful enough to hit the man back down onto the ground with a loud crash. Daisy steadily landed onto the ground beside Thunder. She looked at the man's face and gasped; he was bleeding.

"I…"

Daisy was speechless, what was she supposed to do now? Thunder eyed the girl, a solemn expression on his face,

"You win…" he gasped out.

"Are you o-… ugh!" Daisy fell down onto the ground, with the chaotic state already affecting her stamina, her last attack had taken quite a toll on her body.

"Everyone…" whispered the Cure, she felt so weak that she could hardly move.

"Daisy!" yelled out Flare._ "If she can defeat Thunder then I can defeat this little brat too."_ She thought.

Acid's mechanical arm had now transformed back into the shape of an arm which he was used to punch her, each blow hitting the girl with tremendous force.

"Flare!" Flare looked around to find where the voice was coming from, "It's metal, ne!"

The Cure then smiled, she knew what she had to do. She grabbed onto Acid and squeezed him.

"W-what are you doing? Get off!" he said, thrashing about.

"I never tried this before but you'll make an awesome test dummy!"

"That's it…" Acid grabbed onto Flare and squeezed her back. The metal arm would surely do her some damage, he thought.

"You're really stupid for a genius!" the girl teased.

Flare squeezed the boy as hard as she could, "Sunflare!" she yelled.

Instantly, Acid started to scream, the girl's suddenly emitted intense heat which burned him but most importantly, destroyed his mechanical arm. Flare grabbed hold of the boy's arm and spun him round and round,

"Remember this?" she asked, before slamming the boy down onto the ground next to Thunder.

As Acid hit the floor, Flare sighed, she was exhausted. The girl slowly hovered down onto the ground where she collapsed. As she lay on the ground panting, she could feel herself drifting into unconsciousness.

"D-Daisy… the fragment…" she moaned.

* * *

Some distance away, the fight between Cure Maple, Cure Snow and Hail and Nimby was already underway.

Maple was dashing towards Hail with razor-sharp leaves surrounding her.

"Oh no, you don't!" shouted Hail. The woman formed a large sheet of ice before her and threw it at Maple.

Maple panicked, the sheet of ice was large and would surely damage her.

"Jump!" came a voice. Maple looked to her right and spotted Snow who had frozen Nimby. Maple was shocked but happy, her comrade's fight was already over. She knew that Snow's battle wouldn't be too difficult with her opponent looking like something out of a children's cartoon but she was still relieved. Turning her attention back to the ice coming towards her, she jumped high into the air and successfully dodged Hail's attack.

"Why you!" Hail screamed out in anger and jumped up to attack Maple again.

Maple chuckled,

"Don't even try!" she said, before she shot the leaves that were surrounded her towards Hail. Hail however, simply covered her arms in ice and used them to hit away the leaves.

"Yah!"

Hail managed to hit Maple, knocking the girl back down onto the ground. Hail laughed as Maple hit the ground, causing a huge plume of dust to rise up.

"Precure! Winter Parade!"

"Ah!" Hail screamed as Cure Snow's attack hit her.

"Freeze." Snow motioned her hands and Hail gasped.

"W-why can't I move? Thunder! Acid! Nimby! Help!" the woman was panicking.

"Now, Maple…"

Maple stood up from the ground,

"Snow… thank you." she said, she put her hands towards Hail,

"Precure! Authmn Festival!" she shouted.

* * *

"Daisy!? Flare!?"

After settling things with Hail and Nimby, Maple and Snow managed to retrieve the fragment and were now looking for their comrades.

"Wait, rin!"

"They're over there, ji!"

Said Purin and Uji. The girls looked towards where their fairies were pointing to and spotted their teammates, collapsed on the ground.

"Mei! Hanabi!" shouted Maple, she ran towards them while Snow quietly followed.

"Mei, chi!" cried Mocchi. Neene was next to Flare, softly poking the girl. The fairies' attempts at waking the girls up were in vain.

"Ugh… Mocchi?" moaned Daisy.

"Mei, chi!" answered Mocchi.

Maple ran next to her comrade and kneeled down,

"Are you okay, Mei?" she asked.

The girl quietly nodded,

"I… I couldn't… I didn't know what to do to Thunder. I…"

Maple looked towards Thunder who was a few feet away. The man's body was in bad condition but he was still alive. Was Daisy afraid to kill him? Maple thought back to Hail and sighed.

"It's okay. I understand. Just rest for now." Maple's voice was soft and kind.

"Listen." came Snow's voice, "We should get the fragment and get out of here."

"Huh?" Maple turned around to face Snow, "You're right. Quickly, let's go."

"Guys?" a familiar voice spoke out, "Did we win?"

"Hanabi!" The fairies all gathered around the girl.

"We did!" they said.

"A-awesome…" she whispered, "Now… let me sleep." and closed her eyes.

Maple and Snow were unable to care for their teammates because for now, they had to worry about retrieving the fragment that was going haywire.

"Do it like we did." said Snow.

"I know." replied Maple.

The Cure activated her powers and her hands began to glow. She put her hands into the pillar of light that the fragment was emitting and she was unharmed. She slowly put her hands around the fragment and grabbed it and almost immediately, the pillar of light and wild forest around them disappeared. Maple looked down at the fragment which was in her hands and glowed with a faint, red light.

"That's the first Summer fragment!" said Uji.

"Summer fragment?" asked Cure Snow.

"Yes." a loud voice echoed through the mostly quiet area, "A Summer fragment."

The Cures gasped. Flare's eyes opened wide as she sat up. Daisy too, was shocked, as she struggled to rise up from the ground. The girls look towards the source of the voice and spotted the last person they wanted to see, Typhoon. The evil being had apparently taken over Nimby's body once more. The fairies all moved away from their Cures, knowing that a fight was imminent.

"There are twelve fragments, each season have three fragments in all." explained Typhoon, "Why don't you know this? Don't tell me that dear Lady Earthlight didn't explain this to you."

The Cures looked at Typhoon in silence, he wasn't wrong. Typhoon laughed,

"That's unbelievable." the being said. His red eyes appeared to glow brighter as he laughed, "With no support, do you really expect to defeat me?"

Typhoon put his hands out and they became sharp. The Cures gathered together and looked on, cautiously.

"You got your warning last time. Now, prepare to die!"

"Look out, chi!" cried out Mocchi.

The girls scattered as Typhoon rushed towards them.

"Vines! Help me!" yelled out Daisy. Vines grew up from the ground and surrounded Typhoon but he managed to cut them before they grabbed a hold of his body.

"Graaah!" Flare ran towards Typhoon and put her hands to his eyes, "Sunflare!" she yelled. Flare's hands flashed a bright light and she laughed as she took her hands off of Typhoon's face. She was hoping that she had blinded him but Typhoon gazed into her eyes with a dead, blank stare and slashed at her.

"Flare!" yelled Maple. Maple had quickly pulled Flare away from Typhoon. Typhoon's arm just barely missed Flare's body.

"Take this!" Maple shot out leaves at Typhoon who simply absorbed the leaves into his body. Snow attempted to sneak up behind Typhoon but before she could do anything, he turned around and hit her away; he had known what she was planning to do.

"This is bad, chi!" cried Mocchi.

"We need to do something, ne!"

"But what, rin?"

"We can help them, ji!" said Uji.

"How, rin?" asked Purin.

"That's right, ne!" exclaimed Neene.

"We have power too, chi!"

Purin gasped,

"The powers of the seasons!" they collectively said.

"We, like the Cures are bestowed with the powers of the seasons… if we combine that power…" explained Uji.

"We can help, chi!"

"We have to hurry, ne!"

"At this rate, rin! They might die, rin!"

"Pretty Cure!" the fairies called out, "Accept our power!"

The fairies glowed with the color of their respective Cure and became small balls of light.

"Uji?" asked Snow.

"What are they doing?" asked the other Cures.

The lights flew into the Cures' rings and into the symbols. The silver rings shone and became gold.

Daisy gasped, "This…"

"Is our new power?" the Cures said.

Typhoon looked at them and chuckled,

"With Lady Earthlight not by your side, you can't possibly defeat me."

"No, chi!"

"But we can get rid of you, ji!"

The rings spoke. The fairies were still there with the Cures.

"Everyone!" said Daisy, "Split up!"

The Cures nodded and all went separate directions.

"Let's do this!" shouted Flare, "Show me what you got, Neene!"

Flare threw her right hand up into the air,

"Summer!" her ring glowed with a bright, red light and a large circle appeared in front of her.

"Huh?" Flare examined the circle and realized that it was identical to the symbol of the sun that was on her Cure Ring. "Oh!"

Flare grabbed ahold of her new weapon which then shone with a red light and she spun around, "Rhapsody!" she yelled, and she threw the disc at Typhoon. The disc then became a ring of light which constricted him.

"My turn!" said Maple. Following Flare's example, she threw her right hand into the air and yelled out the season that she represented,

"Autumn!" she grabbed ahold of the leaf that appeared in front of her which shone with a gold gold light and she spun around, "Aria!" the leaf hit Typhoon and a ring of gold light surrounded him.

Cure Snow then followed, "Winter Sonata!" her snowflake-shaped disc hit Typhoon and a ring of white light surrounded him.

Typhoon tried to fight against his binds but no matter what he did, the light around him wouldn't let him move.

It was now Daisy's turn to attack. She took a deep breath,

"We're going to protect this planet and everyone on it… that's a promise." she threw her right hand into the air,

"Spring!" she grabbed a hold of the flower in front of her, "Ballad!" and launched the attack at Typhoon. The rings all hovered one over the other around Typhoon but as Daisy's ring hit, the rings slowly moved towards each other and when they did, there was a bright flash of light and sound of a loud explosion.

When the light diminished, the Cures looked around them and saw nothing. Typhoon and his minions were gone and everything was back to normal. Daisy looked at where Typhoon last stood and spotted the fragment which she picked up. She looked at the fragment, unlike the ones from before, this one was red.

"A Summer fragment…" she whispered. The fight wasn't over yet. The ring on Daisy's finger glowed and Mocchi appeared out of it,

"You did it, chi!"

Daisy nodded and smiled,

"_We_ did." she corrected.

* * *

The chaotic state had finally disappeared.

"Satsuki!" Mei was smiling as she spotted her sister. She and her friends had won the fight and Satsuki was back to normal.

"Hm, huh?" Satsuki turned around and spotted her sister, "Mei!"

"Akito…" Momoji poked her friend from behind who jumped,

"Hey, stop! That tickles!" he said. The two hugged.

Hanabi looked towards her new teammate. She only knew the girl as Cure Snow and wasn't sure what to say. The girl hadn't introduced herself and was just staring into space as Hanabi looked at her.

"I'm so proud of you all!" said Satsuki.

"Yeah!" cheered Akito, "You guys won!"

"We did, chi!"

"That's right, ne!"

"We helped too, rin!"

The fairies too, were excited and happy.

"But…" the two looked towards Cure Snow and Uji.

"Who is this?" asked Satsuki.

Mei walked up to the blue-haired girl.

"Hi, I'm Mei Tarano and this is my sister Satsuki!" she motioned towards her sister as she spoke.

Hanabi realized what Mei was doing and introduced herself as well followed by Momoji and Akito. The girl had a blank face during each introduction and only spoke when everyone was finished. She bowed,

"My name is Yukino Matou. I look forward to working with you all."

Mei nodded and smiled,

"Me too!"

"_The fight isn't over", Mei thought, "Typhoon ran away but I promise to continue trying my best to protect everyone!"_

* * *

_Next Chapter - The Team is Complete! Let's... Babysit!?  
_

Yes, the attack was a total shout out to the ones in Suite and Fresh. School is open again so I'm sorry that things has/will slow things down. After this chapter is where the typical Precure formula will start and those will be a lot easier and fun to write so they might come out faster. I'm going to make these slice-of-life chapters as fun as possible!


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